The final act of the 2023 Ferrari Challenge took place this afternoon at the Mugello circuit and involved all four classes of the North America division of the Maranello one-make series.
Roberto Perrina was the star of the afternoon, triumphing with a masterful race against Matt Kurzejewski, already crowned the series’ champion, but who blotted his copybook today with a last lap contact with Brian Cook while he was fighting for the runner-up slot.
Perrina got past Kurzejewski just over halfway through the race when light rain began to dampen the Mugello surface once again. At that point the two found themselves side by side for almost half a lap, until Kurzejewski, in an excess of enthusiasm to regain first position, ran wide, even losing second place to Cook.
On the last lap the two went hard at it for the second place, but Kurzejewski clipped the rear of his rival’s 488 Challenge EVO, punting him off the track. At that point the Race Direction decided to impose a 25 second penalty on Kurzejewski, demoting him to tenth place.
Justin Rothberg, the Ferrari of Palm Beach driver, was grateful for the penalty as he climbed up to second position, while taking home the success and title in the Pirelli AM class. Behind him was Cameron Root, winner in the Shell class and third overall. Root also had the satisfaction of winning the category title, but he would have won it anyway even without getting onto the podium.
Also worthy of note was a great comeback by John Viskup, who was able to make up 17 positions and finish in seventh place overall. Jeffren Nunberg took first place in the Coppa Shell AM, with Bruce Cleveland in second place. The latter, despite finishing second, was unable to take home the title, which ended up in the hands of Lisa Clark.
During the Safety Car period, Cleveland took the risk of entering the pits and fitting rain tyres while the track was getting damp. His gamble didn't pay off and, although Clark finished off the podium, she still managed to take home the title.
The race was also punctuated by a series of drive-through penalties imposed by the Race Direction due to the high number of track limits broken by the drivers of each class. So much so that the overall classification, at the end of the race, changed significantly due to the numerous sanctions.
