The Ferrari and GT world lost one of its prominent figures on Saturday with the passing of Loris Kessel. The Swiss entrepreneur began his career as a rally driver in the 1970s, before switching to single-seaters and progressing through Formula 3 and Formula 2 to a brief Formula One stint in 1975 and 1976.  He later returned to F3 and F2, before switching to sportscars.

He established Kessel Racing in 2000, whose name became synonymous with Ferrari. He continued as a driver until 2008, most recently competing in in the FIA GT Championship in a Ferrari 550 Maranello.

The successful team operated a Ferrari Challenge squad out of his dealership and this led to them producing the 430 GT3 derivative and later 430 Scuderia GT3, with over 60 being made for world-wide use. The team won the 2007 FIA GT3 European Championship with drivers Gilles Vannelet and Henri Moser.

Two members of this webteam remember well bumping in to him one evening in a restaurant at Spa in 2001. This resulted in an invitation to view his team's operation the next day where he treated us with great kindness and courtesy. Our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.