FF Corse Claim Podium Finish at British GT, Silverstone 500

FF Corse secured a stunning podium finish at the Silverstone British GT season final. In a 40+ car line up, Laurent de Meeus and Jamie Stanley were the first Ferrari over the finish line claiming P2 in the GTC Class. 

The weekend didn’t kick off to a great start after a gearbox issue during the Friday Test. This resulted in a long night for the FF Corse mechanics and a gearbox change.

The Belgium driver started the Silverstone 500 annual race in P3, unfortunately the FF Corse car #15 got hit from behind by a Mercedes GT3 spinning Laurent off track early on. After some vital seconds were lost Laurent spent the next 30 minutes of his first driving stint climbing his way back up the ranks to P3.

Next behind the wheel was pro driver, Jamie Stanley who had a faultless first stint, maintaining position. With some clean racing and fast pit stops the driving duo maintained their position and seized the opportunity to claim second place towards the end of the 3 hour race. 

Stanley and De Meeus finished the race P2 in the GTC class; a great achievement for both drivers, making their debut pairing in British GT.
 
Jamie Stanley, said: “What a fantastic weekend. The competition was incredibly tough this weekend, but Laurent put in an excellent drive and the team at FF Corse did an incredible job on the car. It was great fun to get back behind the driving wheel in a British GT race and to be part of Laurent’s debut appearance. Silverstone 500, in my opinion is the best race of the British GT Calendar so it was a great way to end the season.  A massive thank you to the team who put in a big shift to get the back on track after an unsure start to the weekend.”
 
Laurent de Meeus, HR Owen, said: “We were meant to be racing in Misano for the Ferrari Challenge Finali, which was unfortunately cancelled, so it was great to be part of a new Championship. I thoroughly enjoyed the race and it was brilliant to finish on the podium and as the leading Ferrari.”

Anthony Cheshire, Team Principle, said: “It was great to be back in British GT and fantastic to get a podium finish on our return. It was especially good to do it at the blue ribbon Silverstone 500 event and our home track. We hope to return next year with Ferrari in either the GTC or GT3 class.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GT Open Report – Estoril – April 28th – 30th

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The first round of the GT Open Championship took place last weekend at Estoril with Ivor Dunbar & Johnny Mowlem driving their FF Corse prepared, Ferrari 488 GT3.

The Portuguese round of the Championship saw a healthy grid of cars and high level of competition. The FF Corse entry was the fastest Ferrari during most sessions, including during race 1 and the second qualifying session. Unfortunately race 1 was disrupted when Ivor Dunbar had to take to the gravel in avoidance of a spinning car early in the race. He recovered well and put in a good stint before handing over to Johnny, who set a good pace in the second stint, but was unable to catch the leaders.

In the second race, the driver pairing rose from 12th on the grid to run as high as second place before the pit stops. The strong first stint from Johnny saw a daring move at the start in which he passed 6 cars before the end of the first corner. The car resumed from the pit stops in 5th position, before a tricky stint and an unfortunate spin dropped the car down the order. All in all a good debut showing from the British drive pairing, but for sure there is more to come. Watch this space……
 

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More photos from this event can be found on our website gallery page by clicking here.

The Italian Job – August 28th – 31st

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FF Corse are planning a trip to Italy later in the year to visit two Italian circuits, Imola and Vallelunga.

The trip will take place over 4 days with the team undertaking a track day at Imola first on August 28th, before heading down to the Vallelunga circuit for a day on August 31st.

 

 

 

 

Imola is situated around 30 minutes from Bologna towards the Rimini coast and Vallelunga is located further south, just outside Rome. With the two days in between, there is plenty of time to travel between the two venues and the possibility of some sightseeing and well-earned R&R.

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For further details and to register your interest, please contact Andy O’Dowd on [email protected], or telephone 01327 857601.

 

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Super Six at Snetterton

FF Corse entered a total of six cars for the second round of the Dunlop Britcar Endurance & Sprint Championships, held at Snetterton over the weekend.

The cars were entered for the Endurance and Sprint races and achieved considerable success, winning a total 6 overall and class wins throughout both Championships.

 

The first wins came in the first 50 minute race, with Bon Grimes & Johnny Mowlem leading the FF Corse Sextet home to win Class 2 of the Endurance Championship, in their Ferrari 458 Challenge GTC. The similar car of Marc Brough and Andrew Bentley won the same class in the Sprint Championship and the David Mason & Calum Lockie entry also won Class 1 in the Sprint division, after snatching the lead at the start of the race. Of other notable points was the Mike Wilds & Dino Zamparelli driver pairing, who put up a strong fight in race one in their Ferrari to take the fight to Bon & Johnny.

 

In the 2hr Endurance race held the same day, Bon Grimes & Johnny Mowlem again upheld FF Corse honours to take the Class 2 win and move to second place in the overall Championship (2 points behind the leader). The Graham Lucking/Leyton Clarke entry was a fighting second in class and challenged strongly throughout the race.

In the second 50 minute sprint race Laurent de Meeus and Jamie Stanley secured their debut first win together, winning overall as well as taking a well-earned class victory. David Mason & Calum Lockie again secure the Class 1 honours in their FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3.

The next round of the Dunlop Endurance Championship takes place at Silverstone on June 24th.

FF Corse Goodwood Exclusive

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FF Corse will hold their annual Goodwood exclusive track day at the famous circuit on July 5th this year.

The event features plenty of track time and an open pit-lane format for all the participants. The Goodwood circuit is an incredible step back in time, with the attention to detail and quaint feel unlike any other circuit. It is located within the Goodwood Estate, which along with the circuit houses two golf courses, a horse racing course, a hotel, a stately home and is also home to the Goodwood Festival of Speed. A circuit to be respected, but a must visit for anyone who has not been there before.

Included is an option for accommodation the night before at The Goodwood Hotel, along with a members dinner to be held there the night before.

The numbers of participants is limited.

To register your interest please contact Andy O’Dowd on [email protected], or telephone 01327 857601.

 

 

European Ferrari Challenge – Round 1 Valencia – May 17th – 21st

The first round of the European Ferrari Challenge took place in Valencia at the weekend with the new Ferrari 488 Challenge cars.

Having won the AM class Championship and World Final last year, Sam Smeeth (Stratstone Ferrari) has now moved up to the PRO class.

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The FF Corse team is defending the AM class Championship with two new drivers, Chris Froggatt (HR Owen) and Marc Brough (Graypaul Nottingham). The team continued where it left off last year, Chris achieving two sensational pole positions and experiencing the sweet taste of Champagne with two second place podium visits.

 

 

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Marc Brough also had an excellent debut race meeting in the AM class. Marc (who incredibly only started racing 15 weeks ago) qualified well and raced through to 5th in race 1 and 7th in race 2.

 

 

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In the PRO class, Sam Smeeth had a great start to the season, putting in a solid performance against some very experienced and quick professional drivers. Competing in the top class, Sam qualified on the second row for both races and finished 4th & 5th respectively.

The next round of the European Ferrari Challenge and Club Challenge takes place at Monza in three weeks’ time. 

GT Cup Championship – Round 2 Brands Hatch – May 19th – 21st

At the same time as the European Ferrari Challenge, the second round of the GT Cup Championship was also taking place at Brands Hatch.

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Bon Grimes, Laurent de Meeus and James Little (subbing for Graham Lucking) were all participating in their Ferrari 458 GTC Challenge cars. Bon was immediately on the pace and qualified an impressive second overall in the wet qualifying session, against some much stronger powered GTO opposition.007

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the race it was however James Little who upheld FF Corse honours, taking the GTC class victory. The result was the same in class two, despite Bon’s efforts to wrestle the victory away from James. Meanwhile, Laurent was having a solid debut on the Brands Hatch GP circuit and secured solid 4th and 5th place race finishes. This puts Laurent in a great position to continue his quest of upgrading to race in the European Ferrari Challenge later in the year.

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The Sunday qualifying saw FF Corse qualify an amazing 2nd and 3rd overall on the grid, before an unfortunate coming together in the race put both cars out of the race.

The next round takes place at Spa over the weekend of June 10th & 11th.

Britcar Championship – Round 3 – June 23rd & 24th

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7 out of 7 FF Corse drivers visited the race podium over the weekend as FF Corse achieved some incredible results at Silverstone and the Hungaroring.

The first results came in the Britcar race at Silverstone, where Bon Grimes & Johnny Mowlem along with David Mason & Calum Lockie, both finished in the top three overall, winning their respective classes in the first 50 min Sprint race.

In the second sprint race David Mason/Calum Lockie repeated the Sprint race victory to take the top step on the podium. Robert Macfarlane also visited the class podium in the sprint races, finishing second in class in his Ferrari 360 Challenge. The Endurance race also saw an FF Corse class victory with Graham Lucking & Leyton Clarke taking class 2 honours and finishing second overall in the 2 hour race.

The next round of the Britcar Endurance Championship will be held at Brands Hatch on July 29th.

European Ferrari Challenge – Round 3 – June 22nd – 25th

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The third round of the European Ferrari Challenge was held in Budapest at the Hungaroring.

Both the FF Corse UK dealer entry cars of Sam Smeeth & Chris Froggatt also visited the race podium in their Ferrari 488 challenge cars, during the busy weekend.

Sam Smeeth was the first to achieve a result with a second place finish overall in race 1, having qualified on the front row for his debut at the circuit, despite having limited testing beforehand. In race 2 it was Chris who achieved success with a victory in the AM class, his first in the Ferrari Challenge.

The fourth round of the Ferrari Challenge will held next month at Paul Ricard (France) on July 22nd & 23rd. The races will be streamed live at http://live.ferrari.com/ and can also be seen on the Ferrari YouTube channel.

 

Britcar Endurance Championship – Round 5

Britcar Dunlop Endurance Championship, Donington National circuit, Saturday 2nd of September 2017

Donington – September 2nd

 

FF Corse drivers continued their winning form at the Donington Britcar round last weekend with Bon Grimes & Charlie Hollings taking two Endurance class wins and the effervescent David Mason & Calum Lockie taking the overall sprint honours.

The results see both driver pairings leading their respective class championships with 3 rounds remaining. 

The next round of the Britcar Championship is at Oulton Park on October 21st.