Ferrari Challenge North America Takes Off at Daytona

The cool but sunny weather continued from the morning qualifying session into Race 1 of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli at Daytona International Speedway.  Having just set the grid for Race 2, drivers had a short break before preparing to do battle in the late morning.   Trofeo Pirelli. Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari Silicon Valley) took victory in his first of three races at Daytona International Speedway.  Cooper will be racing not only in the Ferrari Challenge this weekend, but also in the 24 Hours at Daytona.  He held off a strong charge from Peter Ludwig (Wide World Ferrari) who maintained a close gap and even took the fastest lap of the race (1:47.962), until backing off at the end.  James Weiland completed the podium in his Boardwalk Ferrari 488 Challenge car.   Trofeo Pirelli AM. Alfred Caiola returned to Ferrari Challenge after a hiatus and started his season off with a win in the Trofeo Pirelli AM category.  Driving his Ferrari of Long Island powered 488 Challenge Car, Alfred took the win by only two tenths of a second over the hard charging Dave Musial (Lake Forest Sportscars).  Rob Hodes (Ferrari of Washington) completed the podium with third place.   Coppa Shell. Michael Fassbender (Ferrari North America) took his first victory in Ferrari Challenge in the Coppa Shell class with a charging drive after starting in fourth position.  Once taking the lead from Brian Kaminskey (Ferrari of Long Island), Michael went to work establishing a gap over his nearest rivals.  However, Chris Carel (Ferrari Westlake) soon made it by Brian and began closing the gap.  He soon ran out of time, however, and had to settle for second, while Brian rounded out the podium in third.   Coppa Shell AM. John McGrue (Ferrari of Long Island) took his first victory in Ferrari Challenge and set his season off to a great start.  John was able to get a couple of Coppa Shell cars between himself and second place Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) while Brian Simon (Cauley Ferrari of Detroit) rounded out the podium in third.