GreenBkk.com Ferrari | Ferrari Challenge provides curtain raiser to Le Mans 24 Hours

Ferrari Challenge provides curtain raiser to Le Mans 24 Hours

Maranello, 7 June – It’s going to be a busy weekend for the Ferrari Corse Clienti department, working at the Le Mans circuit which hosts the 24 Hour race, the most prestigious endurance event in motor sport, which this year reaches its 79th edition.

The French track will also be hosting the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, as competitors in the Italian and European series tackle a single forty five minute race with separate classifications, as a curtain raiser to the famous race. Action in the one-make series gets underway tomorrow with free practice, followed by qualifying on Thursday 9 June, which will decide the grid for the race that takes place on Saturday at 11.15. Going into the French round, the European Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli is led by Max Blancardi (Motor/Malucelli,) while in the Coppa Shell, the duo of Jean-Marc Bachelier-Yannick Mallegol (Motor/Piacenza) have a solid lead. This will be the second round of the Italian series which sees Stefano Gai (Rossocorsa) leading the Trofeo Pirelli classification and Mario Molteni (Rossocorsa) ahead in the Coppa Shell.

As for the 24 Hour race itself, which gets underway at 15h00 on Saturday, Ferrari is represented by six 458 Italia GT2 cars. AF Corse currently lead the LM GTE PRO classification in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup on 27 points and in car number 51, they have Giancarlo Fisichella, Gianmaria Bruni and Toni Vilander at the wheel, while the team’s other 458 Italia GT2 (71) will be crewed by Robert Kauffman, Michael Waltrip and Rui Aguas. Fighting for the victory among the 18 cars in the category will also be the two Luxury Racing cars (58&59,) number 66 entered by JMW Motorsport and Team Farnabacher’s number 89. There are four F430 GTC cars in the LMGTE AM category, entered by Krohn Racing (57,) AF Corse (61,) CRS Racing (62) and JMB Racing (83.)

Credit: Ferrari S.p.A. (www.ferrari.com)