7th November 2008 The Mugello International Circuit today hosted the first events of the final weekend of the season in the Ferrari Challenge Pirelli Trophy. The Italian Pirelli Trophy series saw the title go to Niki Cadei with one race in hand: the Rossocorsa team driver finished Race 1 ahead of Giorgio Sernagiotto (Motor/Piacenza) and Marco Mapelli (Rossocorsa.) As for the gentlemen drivers in the Shell Cup, Massimo Mantovani (Motor/Malucelli) crossed the line ahead of Emilio Ferroni (Rossocorsa/Pellin) and Benedetto Marti (Motor/Piacenza.) In the European and North American series of the Ferrari Challenge Pirelli Trophy, the German Bjorn Grossmann (Autohaus Gohm) came out on top, ahead of Max Blancardi (Motor/Malucelli) and Poland's Michael Bronizewski (Kessel,) thus getting ever closer to the title. In the Shell Cup, England's Michael Cantillo (Ferrari GB Dealer Team) only needed to finish twentieth to take the title as he had a dominant 55 point lead - in this he succeeded. Standing on the top step of the podium after this first race was Hungary's Tibor Valkint, followed by the German Frank Gelf (Warm Up) and Britain's Jaimie Constable (Ferrari GB Dealer Team.)
In the seventh and final round of the season in the one-make series, which also as a one-off included competitors from the North American series, Blancardi managed to get the better of outgoing champion Ange Barde (Modena/Motor) and the Czech driver Robert Pergl (Scuderia Praha). Among the gentlemen drivers in the Shell Cup, victory went to Gianluca Carboni (Kessel), followed by Frenchman Jean-Marc Bachelier (Ferrari GB Dealer Team) and his team-mate and reigning champion, Michael Cantillon. The second race in the Italian Pirelli Trophy ended with victory for Giuseppe Cirò (Motor/Piacenza): crossing the line behind him were Andrea Belluzzi (Motor) and Giorgio Sernagiotto (Motor/Piacenza). On the first day of racing for the historic cars
in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, the first to take to the track
were the cars competing in Grid C, for cars fitted with disc brakes: Paul
Knapfield came out on top, at the wheel of a Ferrari 512 BB LM, followed
by the 512 S of Olivier Cazalieres and another 512 BB LM, driven by Christian
Traber. The first event for Grid A+B, for drum braked cars saw the win
go to Daniel Maier, driving a Maserati 300S, second was Lukas Huni and
his Maserati A6GCS, with third going to Willi Balz, at the wheel of a
Maserati 6CM, which won the special classification for Grid A. 9th November 2008 The racing side of the event saw the F430s entered in the Italian, European and North American series of the Ferrari Challenge Pirelli Trophy take to the track, along with the historic cars in the Shell Historic series, all competing in the final round of the championships. The world title for the Pirelli Trophy saw Austria's Philipp Baron crowned champion: following the Baron Service team driver home were Giuseppe Ciro (Motor/Piacenza) and Andrea De Lorenzi (Rossocorsa/Pelllin.) In the Final for gentlemen drivers in the Shell Cup, the title went to Riccardo Ragazzi, who had already taken top honours in the Italian championship. The youngster from the Ineco/MP Racing team managed to get the upper hand over Massimo Mantovani (Motor/Malucelli) and Angel Santos (Cars Barcelona). The second race in the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge for cars in Grids A + B, yet again saw victory go to Daniel Maier: the young German, champion in an extraordinary 2008 season, won at the wheel of his Maserati 300S, beating Lukas Huni in a Maserati A6GCS. Third spot went to Willi Balz driving a Maserati 6CM, good enough to win the Grid A class. In the Grid C event, the winner was Paul Knapfield driving a Ferrari 512 BB LM, followed in second and third places by the 512 S of Olivier Cazalieres and the 312 P of David Franklin.The busy
event also featured track sessions for the historic single-seaters run
by the F1 Clienti Department of Maranello and the laboratory-cars taking
part in the exclusive FXX Programme, with its owner drivers completing
new sessions on the card.
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