Boardwalk Ferrari continues strong 2014 season at Sonoma Raceway

SONOMA, California-- The Boardwalk Ferrari racing team completed two days of exciting racing at Sonoma Raceway this past weekend in the second round of the 2014 Ferrari Challenge North America, the world’s premier single-marque auto racing series. Boardwalk Ferrari’s No. 44 Ferrari 458 Challenge car competed well after nearly a three month break from racing.

“I’m very proud of the whole team, from the crew to the guys behind the wheel”, said Nathan Dunning, Boardwalk Ferrari Team Principal. “It was exciting racing from start to finish, with gorgeous Sonoma skies overhead. We’re excited about the rest of the season, and feel really good about where we are as a team.”

The events at Sonoma featured two races, the first on Saturday, April 26, and the second on Sunday, April 27. In Race 1, Boardwalk Ferrari got the weekend off to a strong start by scoring a top-10 finish in the 458CS class. The smooth racing carried over into Race 2 on Sunday, as well. The No. 44 Boardwalk Ferrari car finished 11th in class in a field of 31 total starters.

“It was a really well-executed weekend for our team,” Dunning said. “The team was great from top to bottom. It’s a true testament to how hard the crews work to perfect these race cars so that our drivers can go out and perform at a high level. The work that goes into preparing these cars to compete and the man-hours that it takes to get them ready for race day is just amazing.”

Also featured at Sonoma was Ferrari’s new Evo aerodynamic package, the latest addition to the 458 Challenge car.

“The addition of the Evo kits to the 458 Challenge car has taken what was already an impressively fast race car by any standard to a completely different level,” said Jeff Segal, team driver coach. “The Ferrari Challenge cars have just shy of 600hp, and now the Evo kit they have really good aerodynamic grip in balance, especially in the high speed corners, of which Sonoma Raceway has many. For the drivers, there's definitely a learning curve as they work to understand just how much more potential the car is able to deliver, but we have already seem lap-times tumble dramatically from the past few years with the standard 458 Challenge.

“Boardwalk Ferrari has worked hard to utilize the existing knowledge of the team's engineering staff, with race winning GT and Prototype experience, to try to optimize setups for the new 458 Challenge Evo, and we've made really good progress over the past two months of testing. I think that the benefits of this depth and experience are clear to the customers; faster cars, and more predictable handling.”

It has been a strong start to the 2014 season for Boardwalk Ferrari. In round one of the series, driver Scott Tucker gave the team its first win of the season when he drove the No. 55 Boardwalk Ferrari 458 to victory at Daytona International Speedway. The victory was also a personal milestone for Tucker, as it marked his 100th career racing victory.

The Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli is one of the most popular one-make series, partly because of how it pairs complete track novices with those who already have competition experience. The former have their own class — Coppa Shell (458CS) — while the latter race in the Trofeo Pirelli (458TP), both with a title up for grabs. The combined race events make for an unrivaled race experience with incredible competition.

Plano, Texas-based Boardwalk Ferrari has served the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 2004. The dealership has also long participated in the Ferrari Challenge series and has enjoyed a great deal of success. In 2009, Boardwalk Ferrari captured the Ferrari Challenge Dealer's Championship in a season that saw Tucker score an unprecedented 10 victories, the most in Ferrari Challenge history. In 2008, Tucker racked-up four victories in six Ferrari Challenge races, finishing second overall in the final standings.

The next stop for Boardwalk Ferrari on the Ferrari Challenge North America circuit is in Monterey, California, where the team will take to legendary road-course Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for round three of the Ferrari Challenge North America. Race weekend is scheduled for May 16 – 18.

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