Yahoo Autos Preview: Ferrari Racing Days at COTA
For the first time since 2018, the Ferrari Racing Days weekend will return to Circuit of The Americas with a thrilling collection of Ferrari racing cars, all of which will take to the track at various points throughout the coming weekend. All told, the COTA paddock will be full of over 140 track-only Ferraris, making this weekend the largest gathering of Ferraris on track in North America.
An ideal backdrop
Circuit of the Americas represents an ideal location for this sort of gathering as its 3.46-mile layout offers a wide range of driving challenges and plenty of opportunities for overtaking along its long straights. Of course the circuit is best known for hosting the U.S. Grand Prix since its construction in 2012, but the facility has also been a stalwart of the Ferrari Challenge calendar, having only been left off its schedule twice in that same period.
The Ferrari Racing Days experience
Ferrari Racing Days is a unique occasion as it is the only event where every Ferrari client-racing program is featured on the same weekend. Austin-area Ferraristi will be able to enjoy not only the door-to-door competition of the Ferrari Challenge championship, but also some historic Ferrari GT racers via Club Competizioni GT, the track-only brilliance of the XX Program and of course the pinnacle experience for any client, F1 Clienti.
Trofeo Pirelli
While the weekend will feature a wide range of cars, the competitors of the Ferrari Challenge championship will certainly be the highlight as the only competitive action on track. And none more so than those drivers in the Trofeo Pirelli category, the more experienced group. Key championship competitors from the previous round at Homestead including Matt Kurzejewski (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) and Roberto Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle) are set to go up against an otherwise loaded class of 13 drivers including the 2022 season champion, Jeremy Clarke (Ferrari of Beverly Hills).
Meanwhile in the Trofeo Pirelli AM category, Marc Muzzo (Ferrari of Ontario) is the sole winner from Homestead set to return to the track in Austin. He’ll be up against a number of champions from previous seasons, including Tony Davis (Continental Autosport) who was promoted after winning the Coppa Shell AM category in 2022. Considering the incredibly tight competition forecasted for the category, consistency may perhaps prove to be more essential than even outright wins and pace.
Coppa Shell
Hometown favorites dot the Coppa Shell category with both Frank Szczesniak and Dan Cornish in the Coppa Shell and Coppa Shell AM classes respectively, both calling the Ferrari of Austin dealer their home dealer. Both enjoyed productive and competitive weekends at Homestead and will look to bring that energy and success to their home circuit.
For Szczesniak, the challenge will be to covert his impressive one-lap pace into consistent podium finishes. He already succeeded at this objective at Homestead, qualifying on pole in the second race of the weekend before ultimately finishing second in the race, but he will need to repeat that performance at COTA. Cornish, meanwhile, enjoyed a competitive pair of races at Homestead, ultimately earning his spot on the second step of the podium in the first race of the weekend.
All eyes will be on Lisa Clark (Ferrari of Beverly Hills) who managed to secure two wins from the first two races, but Cornish and the rest of the pack have proven to have the pace and consistency to keep up and even challenge Lisa in the right context.
Schedule:
Ferrari Racing Days opens with testing sessions on Wednesday and Thursday followed by official practice on Friday. The weekend kicks off in earnest on Saturday when spectators are welcome to join the festivities in the paddock. A second pair of races will also take place on Sunday. All sessions of the Ferrari Challenge will also be available to watch live on live.ferrari.com.
