Finali Mondiali at Daytona - Day 1 recap

The Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali at Daytona International Speedway started on Friday with more than 130 Ferrari cars on the grid.

Trofeo Pirelli

The Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale driver Carlos Kauffmann won the first race and clinched the North American zone title in Trofeo Pirelli class. He took the lead early in the race and won ahead of Cooper MacNeil and the famous guest star Rusty Wallace.

In the Asia-Pacific zone Florian Merckx secured the title. The Belgian driver of Baron Service team led from the start and managed to beat his rivals Renaldi Hutasoit and Steve Wyatt. This was the fifth consecutive victory for Merckx who was in a brilliant form in the second half of the season.

Carlos Kauffmann

In the European zone, Bjorn Grossmann already secured the title before the final event of the year. He finished third at Daytona, while Philipp Baron won the race ahead of his Rossocorsa teammate Marcello Puglisi.

Trofeo Pirelli AM

The winner of the first race in the North American zone is James Weiland. He took the overall lead after beating his main rival Steve Johnson who finished second in the race, while Joel Weinberger took the third place.

Ferrari Challenge Finali Mondiali at Daytona

Sam Smeeth of the Stratstone Ferrari team scored ninth win of the year confirming his supremacy in the Ferrari Challenge Europe Trofeo Pirelli AM class. The British drivier finished ahead of Henrik Hedman and John Farano.

Finally, the battle for the title in the Asia-Pacific zone is still widely open. Before the final race, Huilin Han, Eric Cheung, and Xin Jin are the title contenders, so we can expect exciting race on Saturday.

Coppa Shell

European champion Thomas Loefflad won the thrilling event after overtaking Rick Lovat late in the race. Vladimir Hladik of Baron Service completed the podium in the Friday’s race.

Coppa Shell race at Daytona

Matt Keegan won the first race of the North American zone. The new champion Joe Courtney had to settle for the fourth position, behind Jean-Claude Saada and Rob Hodes.

The Asia-Pacific zone race was won by the Chinese Liang Wang who finished ahead of the Australian Paul Montague, as well as the Chinese driver and his teammate Min Xiao.