Ferrari pulled off an extraordinary three wins in three categories at the Gulf 12 Hours on the Yas Marina track in Abu Dhabi. Maranello sealed overall victory in the Pro class, while also triumphing in the Pro-Am one and the Gentlemen’s Cup.
Superb Rigon. The overall victory went to the 458 Italia GT3 of Kessel Racing team crewed by official Ferrari driver Davide Rigon, Andrea Piccini and Poland’s Michal Broniszewski. The three had dominated the first six hours of the race without too much trouble, but then lost the lead to the Mercedes of Team Black Falcon. However, car no. 1 suffered electrical problems, while a superb stint by Rigon enabled the Ferrari to catch and overtake the Mercedes no. 2 of Al Faisal-Haupt-Buurman. The race was red-flagged less than 20 minutes from the finish due to an accident and at that point Rigon was over 20 seconds ahead of the Mercedes. Third place went to the Aston Martin of Oman Racing Team driven by Adam Al-Harthy-Turner.
Pro-Am. Ferrari totally dominated the Pro-Am class, with the honours going to car no. 55 by AF Corse, driven by Ilya Melnikov, Jack Gerber and Marco Cioci, who finished in front of stable and teammates Andrea Rizzoli, Thomas Flohr and Francesco Castellacci. Third place went to the Ferrari of Black Pearl Racing by Rinaldi, unlucky and involved in the accident that led to the red flag, driven by Pierre Kaffer, Alexander Volz and Steve Parrow.
Gentlemen’s Cup. Ferrari beat everyone in the Gentlemen’s class too, where the 458 Italia GT3 of Kessel Racing crewed by Vadim Gitlin, Michael Lyons and Mark Zanuttini did the lion’s share of the work. The three finished in front of teammates Loris Capirossi, Niki Cadei and Alexis De Bernardi and the Renault of Ramos-Barreiros-Naveaux-Lequeux.
Press release Ferrari
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