European Ferrari Challenge at Mugello
By: Ferrari S.p.A.
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By: Ferrari S.p.A.
 The curtain has come down on the third round of the European Ferrari Challenge, held this weekend at the Mugello circuit. In today's races, the undisputed pace setter was Alessandro Balzan who having come out on top in yesterday's qualifying, won both legs of the Trofeo Pirelli. In Race 1, the Ferrari Moscow driver set the fastest time of the race on lap 2 in 1.55.332, on his way to beating team-mate Bjorn Grossmann and Max Blancardi (Motor/Malucelli) the latter making his return to the podium today after a spectacular duel with the second placed man. Stefano Gai, this year among the ranks of the Ferrari Moscow drivers, also did well, running very competitively from start to finish to come home fourth.
In the second race, Balzan rounded off a perfect weekend with a further win which now puts him second in the championship, on 89 points, just seven off the leader Grossmann, who finished third in Race 2, having had to give best this time to Max Blancardi, who was second just 2.587s behind the leader. Stefano Gai staged a spectacular climb up the order, finishing just off the podium yet again. He had started from the back of the grid, as he was standing in for Andrea Belluzzi, still recovering from his Monza accident.
Ferrari Moscow was also the dominant force in the Coppa Shell, with Russia's Alexey Basov winning the first race for the gentleman drivers, which helped consolidate his team's lead in the team category.
After a spectacular accident at the start, which involved Giosuè Rizzuto (Motor/Malucelli), Giorgio Raffaeli (Kessel Racing) and Russlan Tsyplakov (Ferrari Ukraina) and which brought out the Safety Car, Basov regained the upper hand, to win from Daniele Di Amato (CDP) and Giacomo Stratta (Forza Service). In Race 2 Basov lost out after a collision with Stratta who was thus knocked out of the race, while the Russian dropped to the back of the field. After thirty minutes of racing, victory went to Raffaele Giannoni (Motor/Piacenza) followed by Portugal's Francisco Guedes and Alessandro Vezzoni (Rossocorsa/Pellin).
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