Weekly Racing Roundup (1.29.18)

Photo: Ferrari

MacNeil, Ludwig Victorious in Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli at Daytona

Cooper MacNeil and Peter Ludwig shared the victories in the opening weekend of the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli at Daytona.

MacNeil took the opening win by holding off Ludwig who set the fastest lap, while a late-braking maneuver allowed Ludwig to pass MacNeil in Race 2 to win by less than one second.

James Weiland completed the podium in both races, meanwhile.

Of note, Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender scored his first career class victory in the CS class in Friday’s race.

MacNeil finished tenth in GTD in the Rolex 24 at Daytona after pulling double duty between Ferrari Challenge and the Scuderia Corsa IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship entry. 

RESULTS: Race 1; Race 2

News & Notes

***Driving Force Events, the organizer of the Gulf 12 Hours, will host the Targa 6H Monza on Sat., March 10. The new six-hour event at the Italian circuit will be open to GTs, touring cars and prototypes on a compact one-day schedule.

***Balfe Motorsport has announced a multi-class British GT Championship entry which will see the return of the McLaren 650S GT3 to the series after a one-year hiatus. Rob Bell will race alongside team owner Shaun Balfe in a single GT3 entry while the team has also taken over the PMW Expo Racing-backed entry of 2016 GT4 champions Graham Johnson and Mike Robinson who will drive a McLaren 570S GT4.

***British GT will host its annual media day on Thurs., March 8 at Donington with the event moving from Snetterton to return to the Leicestershire circuit for the first time since 2014. The full-season entry list will be unveiled at the event while several hours of on-track testing will also take place.

***Feature Engineering is set to enter a pair of ADESS 03 Nissans in the Michelin Le Mans Cup. Both the team and manufacturer are based in Portugal and team owner Duarte Fidalgo says this partly influenced the decision. “This is a big challenge for the team and I am grateful for the trust that ADESS has placed in us,” he told Endurance-Info. “We will have privileged relations with the only LMP3 manufacturer based in the Iberian Peninsula and this will put us in an excellent position for the season ahead.”

***KÜS Team75 Bernhard has announced it will run a second Porsche 911 GT3 R in ADAC GT Masters for former Porsche Junior Klaus Bachler and Adrien de Leener in addition to the previously-announced entry for team owner Timo Bernhard and Kevin Estre.

***Philip Ellis is the second driver confirmed in Phoenix Racing’s GT Masters entry with the Brit set to partner Oscar Tunjo in a Audi R8 LMS GT3. The team will run a second car with a currently unannounced driver lineup.

***Taiwan Top Speed Racing Team and TTR Team SARD will each enter a Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport MR in Blancpain GT Series Asia, bringing the total number of GT4 entries to five so far. Keo Chang will be joined by a TBA driver in the Taiwan Top Speed entry while Brian Lee and Tony Fong will drive the TTR car.

Jake Kilshaw

Jake Kilshaw is a UK-based journalist. He is a graduate of Politics and International Relations.