In a show of dominance, Harry Cheung of Silicon Valley Ferrari won both races at Toronto, took pole during qualifying, and had the fastest lap of the weekend. These victories confirm the promise that Cheung has shown all season.
The Ferrari Challenge completed its second Canadian leg of the 2011 season during the July 8 to 10 weekend in Toronto, Ontario. This time, the Challenge was part of the Indy Toronto event, situated along side Lake Ontario. The Italian machines raced on the same track as the IZOD IndyCar, Firestone Indy Lights, NASCAR Canadian Tire, and Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship.
As this fine Canadian city opened its doors to Ferrari's drivers, fans waited to see if this event could match the level of excitement that the first half of the season provided.
The Toronto event closely follows Montreal's race, and although both take place north of the border, there were stark differences. While the entire city of Montreal was busselling during the F1 weekend and restaurants were packed at all hours of the day, Toronto was much more relaxed. In downtown, there was a sense of excitement all weekend, but the streets were not as crowded. As fans moved through the track paddock, there was a sense of reverence and appreciation towards all the drivers and teams.
Each year, the city of Toronto closes off certain streets to create a wonderful street circuit. A street circuit provides unique challenges to drivers, though, such as man hole covers creating irregularities in the driving surface, and driving lanes that appear especially narrow because of the concrete barriers on either side. These same challenges are what make drivers and enthusiasts circle all the street course dates on a race schedule.
Since the track is only set up temporarily, drivers do not have any chance to practice until the weekend of the event. This was the 25th year that Toronto hosted this spectacular event, but the first time the Ferrari Challenge participated. As a result, the entire field started on the same level, learning the turns during the initial practice. During the second practice on Friday, though, lap times started to drop as the drivers began to understand the nuances of this unique track.
Qualifying for the Ferrari Challenge was on Saturday morning, and the session was split up to separate the F458 and F430 classes. The F458s went out first, and after a few laps, Cheung stormed to the top with a lap time of 1:14.337. Cooper MacNeil (Ferrari of Houston) put on a fresh set of tires about halfway through qualifying and managed to bump Cheung off pole with a 1:14.292 lap time, but his victory was short lived, as his teammate Mark McKenzie (Ferrari of Houston) went faster still (1:13.792). MacNeil could only muster up a 1:13.830 lap time, and Cheung got his time down to 1:13.842, still just good enough for third. (Note that at this point, a scant 50 thousandths of a second separate the top three drivers!) With time running out, Cheung kicked his performance into high gear and eclipsed everybody's lap time by almost a full second. His lap time of 1:12.863 would stand as the fast lap of the entire weekend.
On the F430 side of things, qualifying was cut short due to a crash about 15 minutes in. At that point, Ferrari of Fort Lauderdale drivers occupied all the top positions. Rob Metka had the fast time of 1:16.951, followed by Juan Hinestrosa and Francesco Piovanetti. With Hinestrosa tied for third in the championship race, it was crucial for him to place as high as possible in both races this weekend.
The first race started Saturday afternoon, and excitement ensued as soon as the green flag dropped. MacNeil passed McKenzie on the inside going into the first turn. Behind them, the unthinkable occurred when Metka drove his car up and over the F458 of Kevin Marshall (Ferrari of San Francisco), landing on Paddins Dowling's car (Ferrari of San Francisco). This caused a full-course yellow until the track marshals could clean up the debris. When the track went green again, Cheung began to steadily increase his lead over MacNeil. In the F430 race, Canadian Damon Ockey (Ferrari of Ontario) snuck by Piovanetti, to the delight of many of the people attending.
At the end of the 35-minute race, it was Cheung in first, MacNeil in second, and McKenzie in third for the F458s. In the F430 race, Hinestrosa held on to first, followed by Damon Ockey in second, and Piovanetti in third.
On Sunday, the starting grid was set by the finishing positions from Saturday. Cheung found himself in the pole position for the second time in as many days. At the start of the race, again, the front runner in the F430 race, Hinestrosa, had a mishap, causing an extended yellow period. When the track was finally cleaned up, MacNeil mounted a furious attack on Cheung, contesting each corner. In the end, it was Cheung who was victorious, with MacNeil coming in second. John Farano (Algar Ferrari) capitalized on a mistake by McKenzie on the last lap to capture the final podium spot in his home town.
The Canadians managed to sweep all three podium spots in the F430 race on their native soil. After Hinestrosa left the race, Damon Ockey ran up front largely uncontested. Piovanetti was in second until a crash took him out of the race as well. That opened the door for Ryan Ockey (Ferrari of Ontario) to take second, and Frank Fusillo (Algar Ferrari) to finish in third.
Now that the season is at the halfway point, it is evident that both the F458 and F430 championships will be hotly contested. 16 points separate the top three spots for the F458s, and there are two drivers tied for both first and third in the F430 series. All of this is pointing towards an incredible second half of the 2011 Ferrari Challenge season.
The next Ferrari Challenge race will be at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut on July 29 and 30, 2011.
Toronto Race 1
Toronto Race 2
Toronto Points Standings