The last act of the Ferrari Challenge 2023 took place this afternoon at the Mugello circuit and involved all the classes of the North America division of the Maranello single-make series.
Roberto Perrina was the great star of the afternoon, triumphing with a masterful race against Matt Kurzejewski, driver already champion of the series but today author of a race tainted by the contact on the last lap with Biran Cook while he was fighting for second position .
Perrina overtook Kurzejewski just over halfway through the race, when a light rain began to wet the Mugello surface again. At that point the two found themselves side by side for almost half a circuit, until Kurzejewski, in an excess of enthusiasm to regain first position, ran wide, even losing second position to Cook.
On the last lap the two faced each other to obtain second place, but Kurzejewski found himself ramming his rival, sending him off the track. At that point the race management decided to impose a 25 second penalty on Kurzejewski, demoting him to tenth place.
Justin Rothberg, driver of the Ferrari of Palm Beach team, expressed his thanks by climbing to second position, but taking home the success and title in the Pirelli AM class. Behind him is Cameron Root, winner in the Shell class and third overall. Root also gained the great satisfaction of winning the category title, but he would have won it even without grabbing the podium.
Of note is the great comeback of John Viskup, who was able to recover 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.
Cleveland, during the Safety Car, took the risk of entering the pits and fitting rain tires while the track was getting damp. This 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 Throughs imposed by the race direction due to the many track limits broken by the drivers of each class. So much so that the general classification, at the end of the race, changed significantly due to the many sanctions imposed.
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