Ferrari Challenge NA - Rubbo, Cagnazzi, Rothlander and MacNeil claim victory

Austin Tx, 16 September 2017 - Another record number of drivers took the green flag in a sunny day where temperatures exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Forty six cars took a single green flag, at half past five in the afternoon.  Drivers made full use of the available pavement, and then some, as they looked to carve out an advantage over their competitors at this newly minted classic, Circuit of the Americas.   458 EVO. Joseph Rubbo completed his remarkable run of form over the past several weekends with victory at Circuit of the Americas in the 458 EVO class.  With the exception of a caution midway through the race, the field was able to run under green flag conditions.  That is not to say, however, that there was no contact.  Three drivers suffered race ending contact in the 458 EVO class.  Contact was exacerbated by the unique designs of the circuit, widening on the approach to the apex and encouraging drivers to aggressively dive to the inside of their competitors.  However, it was Joseph Rubbo who managed to come out ahead of the field, taking his Ferrari of Long Island powered car to victory over Francesco Piovanetti and James Walker. Further back, Lisa Clark took the Ladies Cup over her rival in that class, Debra Palermo.   Coppa Shell. A field of 16 Coppa Shell classed cars took to the grid at the start of Race One, however that field soon thinned as contact and other errors forced drivers to retire at various points through the race.   Murray Rothlander, however, remained above the fray and took victory, beating out Karl Williams and his Ferrari of Beverley Hills 488 Challenge car.  Osvaldo Gaio took third place and also the Gentleman's trophy, only two seconds ahead of Barry Zekelman.   Trofeo Pirelli AM. Chris Cagnazzi continued his strong season with a win in Race One, over Joel Weinberger and Marc Muzzo.  It was a hard fought win for Chris, taking victory over Joel by just under two seconds, and despite the fact that Joel set a fastest lap over half of a second better than Chris.  Consistency, however, earned the race win for the Ferrari of Long Island 488 Challenge car and its driver.   Trofeo Pirelli. Wei Lu led the race early, taking the lead away from poleman Cooper MacNeil.  Cooper, however, stuck right to Wei's bumper with Martin Fuentes in close pursuit.  The two Ferrari Silicon Valley cars paced the field, with Cooper setting fastest lap of the race and Martin not far behind, despite some admitted over-driving.  After the full course caution, Cooper made good use of the additional apex pavement at COTA, and Wei showed excellent track awareness to see him coming.  Once clear of Wei, Cooper was able to begin to build a gap, and Martin soon followed into second place.