Donington (Ferrari Open) – Race Report

FF Corse debutante Douglas Campbell scored a sensational debut class victory in the Pirelli Ferrari Open at Donington Park this weekend. The Ferrari driver swapped his normal 430 Scuderia road car for the F430 Challenge, driving the car for the first time in qualifying.

The race saw Douglas secure victory after catching, passing and pulling away from the class leader. Race 2 was a more difficult affair, when an engine problem on lap 2 required a pit-stop to solve the issue and the car resumed at the tail of the field. Despite this Douglas proceed to set faster laps, recording his fastest lap of the day on his final tour.

 

The next round of the Ferrari Open Series is at Silverstone GP Circuit on June 15th & 16th. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

Brno (European Ferrari Challenge) – Race Report

 

The European Challenge took place Brno (CZ) at the weekend with FF Corse drivers Rupert & Alex Martin taking part in the Coppa Shell & Trofeo Pirelli Championship respectively. The track is a fantastic venue just outside the city of Brno and is long in distance with similarities to Spa-Franchorchamps and Mugello. Alex recorded a video of a lap of the circuit in his Ferrari 458 Challenge. This can be seen by viewing the screen above (on maximum screen) or by visiting the Dextra Racing Facebook page click here.

The racing was tough and frantic and saw Alex take his highest place Ferrari Challenge finish of 5th overall from a starting position of 9th in Race 1. Rupert finished 17th overall in his first race, an improvement of 6 positions from his qualifying grid spot.

The next round of the European Ferrari Open Series is as a support race for the Le Mans 24hrs on June 22nd. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

Silverstone British GT – Race Report

 

FF Corse ran three Ferrari’s successfully in the Silverstone round of the British GT Championship at the weekend. The culmination of which was all 3 cars finishing and taking two class victories. The wins came courtesy of the GTC class with Jacques Duyver & Jamie Stanley (Ferrari 458 GTC) and the GT3(B) Class with Paul McNeilly & Jamie Stanley (Ferrari F430 GT3).

Gary Eastwood and Rob Barff came away from the weekend as still the leading 2013 Ferrari 458 GT3 in the Championship. This despite a difficult race, which saw the safety car fail to pick-up the leader. This effectively put Gary a lap down, ending any chance he & Rob had for an overall victory and eventually confining them to a 12th place finish overall.

The two class winning cars meanwhile ran faultlessly further down the pack of 43 starters to take their class wins and finish line astern in 21st and 22nd place overall, both cars only 17 seconds apart after three hours of racing

The next round of the British GT Championship is at Snetterton on June 15th & 16th. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

Brands Hatch – July 31st, 2013

 

FF Corse will again be supporting an away day for injured soldiers and servicemen in the form of technical support at a track-day organised by Gary Eastwood and friends. The now annual event takes place at Brands Hatch on July 31st, 2013

For FF Corse members who wish to take part in the event and provide track rides for the servicemen on the day, FF Corse is offering free support and transport logistics.

For further information please contact Andy O’Dowd, or Anthony Cheshire on 01327 857601 or email events@ffcorse.com

Brands Hatch (Indy): GT Cup – Race Report

 

After a successful race weekend at Brands Hatch, FF Corse drivers Alex & Rupert Martin came away as the leading two drivers overall in the GT Cup Championship.

Alex Martin took 3 pole positions and 3 race victories, including a race win overall in the third race. The race meeting saw Alex run with the FF Corse GTC Aero kit for the first time and he promptly dominated the race meeting to take a healthy lead in the Championship.

Rupert, still running the standard Ferrari 458 Challenge car, backed up Alex’s race wins with strong performances of his own, taking second place in class in each of the three races. After consistent scoring this weekend and in the previous earlier rounds, Rupert has now moved up to second place overall in the Championship.

The next round of the GT Cup Championship is at Oulton Park on July 13th. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

24hr – Support Race

 

FF Corse drivers Alex Martin, Rupert Martin, Jacques Duyver and Charlie Hollings compete this weekend in the European Ferrari Challenge round at Le Mans, a support race to the main 24hr race

The drivers took to the track yesterday for the first time for a 1hr session on the La Sarthe circuit. Charlie Hollings came out quickest of the FF Corse team and was running second in the timings early on, despite never having driven at the circuit before. Alex was not far behind Charlie and was beginning to put his previous experience to good use. Jacques and Rupert put in good performances to also be in a strong position to Challenge come qualifying and the race

Qualifying takes place this evening and the main race takes place at 11:00am on Saturday morning in front of an expected 250,000 strong crowd.

For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

British GT & Ferrari Open Reports

 

FF Corse have had a busy couple of weeks with the Ferrari Open at Silverstone and British GT at Snetterton taking place at the same weekend, before heading directly off to Le Mans for the European Challenge

The Tarrant-Willis brothers, Toby and Robin, along with Shamus Jennings, Christian Andersson and David Mason all ran at the Silverstone Ferrari Open race on the GP circuit. Toby achieved two pole positions and two podium finishes, along with Robin taking pole position for both his races in the Ferrari F430 Class. Shamus finished 4th in race one and Christian 5th, a position they reversed in race 2 with Christian finishing ahead of Shamus and followed home by David Mason.

At Snetterton Gary Eastwood and Rob Barff competed in the Snetterton round of the British GT Championship, qualifying in wet conditions to achieve a season best of 5th and 6th positions for the two 1-hour races. Both races were held in the dry and the best result coming in race 1 with a points scoring 9th position, to maintain their position as the leading 2013 Ferrari in the Championship.

For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

European Challenge Race Report

 

FF Corse driver Alex Martin finished on the podium in second position at the Le Mans round of the the European Challenge Championship. The race, held in damp, but rapidly drying conditions saw Alex elect to start from the pit-lane after a last minute call for slick tyres. The same strategy was adopted by FF Corse driver Jacques Duyver, who also chose to start from the pit-lane on slick tyres for his debut Ferrari Challenge race.

Alex and Jacques then proceeded to charge through the 45 car field from the back of the grid. Meanwhile Rupert Martin, starting the race on wet tyres, made strong progress, making his way up to 22nd position overall before pitting for his compulsory pit-stop and taking slick tyres at the end of the 3rd lap.

Alex and Jacques proceeded to carve through the field and were quickly up into the top 10. Alex then proceeded to stay out as long as possible before taking his stop from the lead of the race. Once resumed he was running third before moving up to second in the later stages and chasing the leader home. Jacques meanwhile moved steadily up the order before finishing in 6th place overall, the leading debutante and ahead of the first-placed Coppa Shell driver.

The next round of the European Ferrari Challenge is at Portimao (PT) July 19th-22nd. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

Ferrari Owners Club – Track Day

 

FF Corse drivers spent the day in the sun today at Donington on the Ferrari Owners Club track-day.

The East Midlands circuit was bathed in sunshine as the day went without a hitch for the five FF Corse drivers driving in the Race-Car sessions.

Drivers outside FF Corse also had the opportunity to hire a Ferrari F430 Challenge for sessions throughout the day.

For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.

Oulton Park GT Cup Race Report

 

FF Corse driver Alex Martin extended his lead in the GT Cup Championship at Oulton Park last weekend with a brace of Class wins. Alex, driving the Ferrari 458 Challenge GTC, also managed to take pole position overall for the first race ahead of stronger opposition, before bringing the car home second overall in the first race and third overall in the second race.

Peter Jenning’s finished in a solid second place in both races, despite never having competed at the circuit before. The strong performance saw him finish a best position of 5th overall in race 2, beating some well established names along the way.

Rupert Martin & Shamus Jennings finished off a superb weekend for the FF Corse team by sharing the final step of the GTC podium, with Rupert taking 3rd place in race one and Shamus taking 3rd in race two.

The next round of the GT Cup is at Silverstone on August 17th & 18th. For further information contact Anthony Cheshire at FF Corse on 01327 857601 or email acheshire@ffcorse.com.