Le Castellet (Var), 18 September


Qualifying for the sixth round of the European series of the Ferrari Challenge took place today at France’s Paul Ricard HTTT circuit at Le Castellet, in preparation for Sunday’s races. This is the final round for the F430 Challenge cars in the European branch of the one-make series, prior to the World Finals in Valencia. Competitors in the Italian Series will be in action at Vallelunga over the weekend of 10 October, for their last round before heading to Valencia.

The first of the two qualifying session was dominated by Philipp Baron (Baron Service) who took the first pole position of the day in the main category of the Trofeo Pirelli, followed by Bjorn Grossmann (Autohaus Gohm) and Alexey Vasiliev (Ferrari Moscow) in second and third places respectively. In the Coppa Shell, Tibor Valint (Warm Up) was quickest, setting the fifth time overall, ahead of Aleksander Skryabin (Ferrari Moscow) and Wido Roessler (Baron Service).


The second qualifying session, to determine the grid for Race 2 saw once again Philipp Baron (Baron Service) posting the best time, ahead of Bjorn Grossmann (Autohaus Gohm) and Alexey Vasiliev (Ferrari Moscow). Fourth position overall for Aleksander Skryabin (Ferrari Moscow), the quickest of the gentleman drivers in the Coppa Shell, followed by Tibor Valint (Warm Up) and Wido Roessler (Baron Service).

Tomorrow’s schedule includes two races of 40 minutes each, at 9.20 and 14.00, with both categories taking part in the same races, but with separate classifications. After the weekend, on Monday and Tuesday, the French track will host a group of single-seaters run by Maranello’s F1 Clienti department and cars involved in the “XX Programmes” who will take to the track for two days of private testing.