Ferrari: An almost perfect 2020 season finale

The finals of the Ferrari Challenge Europe and USA, postponed from the first weekend of November 2020 to the first weekend of March 2021, as well as the World Final, united almost 40 drivers at the Misano World Circuit - of course under strict Corona measures, as they had proven themselves many times before.

Weakness in qualifying
In the process, Liechtenstein's Fabienne Wohlwend, who competes with a Swiss license, managed a very good, if not optimal, start to the new racing year, which concluded the 2020 season.

In both qualifying sessions for the European finals and the Finali Mondiali, the 23-year-old driver from Octane 126 in Wallisellen did not manage a perfect lap, as was evident last year with three pole positions. But, as is well known, it's always counted up at the end.

A good start is half the battle
In the first half-hour race for the Trofeo Pirelli in the top Pro and Pro-Am categories, she immediately moved up from 5th on the grid to third place. In a heart-stopping maneuver, she wrestled the American Ferrari champion and GT specialist Cooper MacNeil down on the 14th of 17 laps and took over second place.

Fabienne was unable to catch up with overall leader Frederik Nielsen from Denmark, but she did manage to take her first class win in the professional category.

Deserved runner up
For the second race, however, she again qualified the brand-new Ferrari 488 Challenge Evo "only" for fifth place on the grid in the field of 19 competitors. This time Wohlwend lost a position in the starting tussle, but over the course of the 18 laps - without benefiting from any retirements - worked her way up to third place overall.

She left the Italian Emanuele Maria Tabacchi, who had already been crowned champion before the event in Misano, behind her again thanks to a successful attack on the last lap. Fabienne had already cemented her second place in the championship the day before.

Fabienne Wohlwend: "In the first race I had a mega start, and the second was one of my best ever. Because the new car was much harder and stiffer, the rear was more nervous than on the previous Ferrari. That's why I had problems with the handling at the beginning."

Three races, three podiums
In the world final race shortly before noon on Sunday, Frenchman Thomas Neubauer was unbeatable on the track, just like the day before. With a great start Fabienne immediately made up two positions and put herself in the slipstream of the Belgian Florian Merckx.

Without a hara-kiri action, however, there was no getting past, but the professional rider from the Principality was also happy to settle for a safe third place and thus the third podium on the Misano weekend. At the same time, as in 2018, she was also the Women's World Cup winner.

The best ending really came at the end: Because of a technical manipulation Neubauer was disqualified retrospectively. Merckx inherited the victory - if Fabienne Wohlwend had known this beforehand, she would certainly have dared a real attack to become the winner instead of the runner-up of the Finali Mondiali Ferrari 2020.

Fabienne Wohlwend: "Of course I would have preferred to get this second place on the track. I tried it twice with Merckx, but he blocked me. Moreover, I had the American at my back and had to watch out for him. Nevertheless, I'm satisfied with everything. The new car ran perfectly and the team did a super job with the set-up work. Many thanks to everyone!"

Third overall for Kessel driver Scheltema
Nicolo Rosi from Ticino, who started in the Pro-Am category for the first time in the same field, finished a good fifth in the second Challenge Europe race with a Ferrari from Kessel Racing.

In the Coppa Shell in the S (silver) and S-Am classes, however, Kessel's spearhead Fons Scheltema was not quite able to meet expectations. In fourth place in the second race, the Dutchman was just over a second off the podium.

With a sixth place in the first run, which he also achieved in the World Final race, the third championship place was no longer out of his reach.

Season start in five weeks
All results and the championship final standings can be found in this Link can be taken from the website. The actual kick-off of the Ferrari Challenge Europe 2021 will take place on the second weekend in April at Monza.

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