Ferrari Challenge North America | Imola, Race 2: Medler, Cook, Marsten and Monteforte champion
by Julian Thomas · AutosportRace 2 of the Ferrari Challenge North America crowned a quartet of champions of the four classes in a race in which the Safety Car was the main protagonist.
Dylan Medler won Race 2 of the Ferrari Challenge North America, triumphing in the final event of the day held at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola.
Thanks to this success, the driver of the team The Collection also won the title of the Pro class. In Coppa Shell NA, the title went to Eric Marsten despite him being shoved into the gravel, while Brian Cook was crowned Pro-Am champion and Roger Monteforte secured the Shell-AM category title.
Medler got off to a great start, taking the lead from Roberto Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle), second, and Matias Perez Companc (Ferrari of Central Florida), third. In the early stages of the race there was a terrific scrap between Medler and Perrina for the lead. Perez Companc, on the other hand, immediately lost ground to the leading duo.
Brian Cook, on the other hand, took the lead in the Pro-Am class ahead of Frank Szczesniak. In Coppa Shell, Rey Acosta was leading with a large margin over his direct rivals, even moving up to seventh overall, while Jeffrey Nunberg immediately took the lead in the Shell-AM class.
With 10 minutes to go, Race Direction imposed the entry of the Safety Car due to an off-track exit by Al Hegyi (Ferrari of Newport), thus freezing the positions, but eliminating the gaps. This led to a much more interesting final part of the race.
With five minutes to go, the Safety Car returned to the pits, thus leaving the drivers with the final skirmishes to try to win the race and the titles of their respective categories.
The Safety Car, however, returned to the track immediately due to a contact in which Marston came off the worst, ending up off the track and beached in the gravel. Bernier ended up ahead of the Ferrari of Westlake driver, but at the end of the race Marston was classified and scored enough points to clinch the category title.