Monza, March 2008

After the winter stop the kick off for the Ferrari 430 Challenge was traditional in Italy, the home of Ferrari.

Host for the first races was the Monza circuit. Monza, a historic circuit where alot happend.

I took the time to take a picture of the old Monza circuit that situated next to the regular track. Just look at the angel of the banking! Only heroes could handle it.

On Saterday it was the honor for the Trofeo Pirelli Euro series to do the first Official race of the Ferrari 430 Challenge in 2008.
With the champion from last year (Michael Cullen) missing it was the young and talented Bjorn Grossman who took pole position.

Bjorn Grossman (4) in the lead at the start followed by Philipp Baron (9) and Ronnie Kessel (72) in 3rd.

Lap after lap there was a strong battle between Grossman and Baron. For one moment Bjorn nearly lost it but he didn’t and drove a great race!

Furter down the field it was the 2006 champion Ange Barde (2) who was pushing hard and overtook Nicolas Misslin (5) half way the race. Ange finished 4th, Misslin 5th.

A classic shot from Monza.

At the end of race 1 it was Bjorn Grossman (4) who won the race followed by Phillipp Baron (9) in second place and Max Blancardi (3) took the final spot on the podium.

The second class who made their first race of the season was the Coppa Shell Euro series. Like always this field is much bigger than the Trofeo Pirelli. This time there were 30 cars at the start.

It was Walter Forer (109) who took the lead and never gave it away.

After 3 laps Frank Gelf missed the Ascari corner and took a step out on the grass. One lap later has was forced to give up. Its unofficial but I think Frank Gelf and Jaimie Constable touched. Both cars didn’t finish the 40 minutes race.

The race also didn’t took full distance for Wido Roessler (106) who was forced to give up in lap 6.

It didn’t bother Angel Santos who was making progress during the race. He finished 4th.

The action happend all behind the green 430 Challenge from Walter Forer who had no problem at all to win race 1. Second became Gianluca Carboni (173) and third place was the Ferrari GB Moto driver Jean-Marc Bachelier (129).

Because of personal problems I sadly enough had to miss the second day.

For more photographs go: http://www.vandeveldephotography.com/cpg1414/index.php
For video clips go: http://www.youtube.com/user/ferrariworld