Martin Fuentes scored the first victory for Scuderia Corsa in Pirelli World Challenge with a GT-A class victory on Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama in the no. 07 Scuderia Corsa / Hublot Ferrari 458 Italia.
This weekend marked the sixth and seventh races of the season for the PWC. After a late-race caution period in Saturday’s race, Fuentes was able to pass the GT-A class leader to take the lead after battling in the top-three throughout the race. With the victory on Saturday and a fourth place on Sunday, Fuentes is the championship leader in the GT-A class.
“It feels great to win this race,” said Fuentes. “This is a competitive championship, and having never been here before and starting near the back, it is amazing feeling to win. It was a complicated race. I was able to get to the lead on the restart and save tires for the end. We were on the podium in Long Beach in the no. 07 Scuderia Corsa / Hublot Ferrari 458 Italia, and now to win the race and to lead the championship, it’s not only a great result for me but for the team who worked so hard this week.”
At the wheel of the no. 64 Scuderia Corsa / Lino’spresso Ferrari 458 Italia, Duncan Ende scored his best result of the season in Sunday’s race. After advancing three positions in Saturday’s race to finish in eleventh, Ende was one position better on Sunday to finish in tenth position after a heated battle for positions inside the top-ten throughout the race.
The weekend marked a strong turnaround for Ende after last weekend’s race at Long Beach where Ende was the victim of contact which damaged his Ferrari and forced his retirement.
“It feels great to finally bring home a solid result without any issues,” said Ende. “I think we missed with the car a little bit and it was a bit of a handful, but our race pace was very good. It was a close call with the Mercedes on the restart and I probably lost a spot because I was not 100% sure that the car was okay and I was feeling it out to make sure a tire wasn’t going down. But I can’t complain about tenth place one bit. I’m excited for the next race and I can’t wait to get back in the car.”
It was a busy week for the Scuderia Corsa team after both cars were damaged in last weekend’s Long Beach Grand Prix, forcing the team to log long hours to have both Ferrari 458 Italias on track ready for the weekend.
“Great weekend for our drivers that scored the best results of the season so far,” said Giacomo Mattioli, team owner of Scuderia Corsa.” Martin ran a phenomenal race to win the GT-A on Saturday and Duncan finished top ten in a super competitive GT on Sunday. I am really happy for Martin that is now leading the GTA Championship and has proved to be a smart racer. A special thanks to the crew for the outstanding job in preparing the cars in such a short time with a back to back races across the country.”
The PWC races from Barber Motorsports Park will be broadcast on CBS Sports on Sunday, May 3 at 2:00 PM ET. Scuderia Corsa’s Pirelli World Challenge drivers will be back in action on May 15-17 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada with two rounds of racing.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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