New and familiar faces top Ferrari Challenge Race 1 at Laguna Seca

Trofeo Pirelli Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) captured his elusive first Trofeo Pirelli victory of 2024 on Saturday, but withstood constant pressure and a late restart to do so. After two competitive, albeit winless, rounds at Circuit of The …

Trofeo Pirelli

Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) captured his elusive first Trofeo Pirelli victory of 2024 on Saturday, but withstood constant pressure and a late restart to do so. After two competitive, albeit winless, rounds at Circuit of The Americas last month, McCarthy held off hard-charging efforts from Dylan Medler (The Collection) and Jeremy Clarke (Ferrari Beverly Hills) throughout the 30-minute race, which saw the three drivers finish within one second.

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In Trofeo Pirelli Am, it was Brian Cook (Ferrari of Seattle) who cruised to his third win in as many races this season. Cook started behind Matias Perez Companc (Ferrari of Central Florida), who impressively qualified first overall on the grid on Saturday morning. While Companc was poised for a podium, a last-lap misstep in the dirt dropped him down the order and elevated David Musial (Ferrari of Lake Forest) to second and Tony Davis (Continental AutoSports) to third.

Coppa Shell

Eric Marston (Ferrari of Westlake) scored his first victory of the year on Saturday after starting from pole position. At the drop of the green flag and even after a lengthy mid-race caution, Marston controlled the pack and went on to win by more than four seconds over Robert McWilliams (Ferrari of Washington) and Yahn Bernier (Ferrari of Seattle), both of whom earned their second podium finishes of 2024.

The result for all three drivers could prove to be crucial as the Coppa Shell season goes on, with championship leader Sureel Choksi (Ferrari of Denver) unable to start Saturday’s race following an incident in qualifying earlier in the day.

In Coppa Shell Am, Roger Monteforte (Ferrari of Central New Jersey) sealed his first victory of the year in similar fashion to Marston by starting and finishing first in class. Bryan Waltersdorf (Continental AutoSports) finished in second place, while Paul Lin (Ferrari of Newport Beach) jumped from sixth at the start to complete Saturday’s podium.

488 Challenge Evo

Massimo Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle) remained perfect on Saturday by earning his third pole position, fastest lap and win in the Trofeo Pirelli class this year. Even while navigating lapped traffic, the youngster’s pace could not be matched by 296 Trofeo Pirelli winner Jason McCarthy (Wide World Ferrari) and Logan Broughton (Ferrari of Lake Forest), the latter of whom earned his first podium finish of 2024.

In the Coppa Shell class, Richard Pineda (Ferrari of Washington) became a first-time winner in the series after making big moves on the final lap of the race. Pineda passed Gregory Hopkins (Foreign Cars Italia), who had led the entire race so far, following a late restart with two minutes remaining on the clock. Hopkins went on to finish third after Matt Dalton (Ferrari of Long Island) snuck by as well for second place.

Sunday schedule

The final trio of races on Sunday will take place for Coppa Shell at 12:35 p.m. local time (3:35 p.m. ET); for Trofeo Pirelli at 2:05 p.m.; and for 488 Challenge Evo at 3:25 p.m. All races can be streamed live on the Ferrari YouTube channel.