Scarperia (Florence), 9th November 2008
Today at the Mugello International Circuit, every element of the world of Ferrari was represented on track to
celebrate the end of the racing season, joined by a crowd of fans who had come to acclaim the Prancing Horse
champions.
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.
After the spectacle put on by Gimmi Bruni and Toni Vilander at the wheel of the F430 GT2 cars, which were
victorious in the FIA GT Championship and the Le Mans 24 Hourse, the fans who had flocked to Mugello gave
an enthusiastic welcome to the demonstration by Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro: Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa
completed several laps of the track as well as doing some pit stops. Michael Schumacher went out in his FXX
car, accompanied by Luca Badoer and then, in the latest Ferrari car, the California, with Jean Todt at the wheel.
The event ended with the usual track parade and a greeting from President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who
thanked the team and drivers for their great work throughout the year, resulting in the team taking the
Constructors' title for the sixteenth time, the eighth in the last ten years. Underlying the importance of the result,
this very weekend, the 430 Scuderia Spider 16M, the latter part of its badge relating to this achievement, was
unveiled, first to customers and then to the media.
Images: Michael Tange
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