The Ferrari Challenge is a very exclusive racing series organised since 1993 over 6 meetings with two 40 minutes races per meeting. Initially one raced a competition version of the F-348, later of the F-355, still later of the F-360 and since 2006 of the F-430. There is an apart series in North-America (sponsored by Motorola), in Europe (sponsored by Black & Decker) and in Italy (sponsored by Kimbo caffe). At the end of the year entrants of the three series come together for a general 7th meeting called the Finali Mondiali. No Ferrari street cars can enter, only the special racing version. The cars are equipped with a paddle driven gearbox, derived from the F1 Ferrari.  Since 2006 one races exclusively the Ferrari F430 Challenge, not to be confused with the Ferrari F430 CS being a street car. It's thus a series for Ferrari clients having bought a real race car not allowed in normal traffic. In total, spread over the 3 competitions (Europe, Italy, North-America) there are some 120 cars involved (2007). In 2007 the European series and the Italian series have been split in two distinct series: the Trofeo Pirelli for the more experienced racers (being semi-pros) and the Coppa Shell for the gentleman drivers (being an amateur's class).

The Ferrari Challenge works with a points system where the 15 first of each round and the 3 fastest qualifiers collect points. Racers attending only one specific meeting, but having not subscribed for the complete series, cannot win points. In 2007 that was the case with guest driver Bruno Senna having won the two rounds at Silverstone with the #28 Ferrari GB Dealer car, but collecting no points for the overall standings. Public attendance at the different Ferrari Challenge series is high, at any rate higher than at most rounds of the FIA GT series. The Finali Mondiali of 2007 were disputed at Mugello on October 28 for more than 30,000 spectators - something where Stéphane Ratel and his SRO can only dream about.

Contrarily to SRO's FIA GT Series and to ACO's LMS series, having a poor TV attendance, the European and Italian Ferrari Challenge is well covered by television, attending more than 20,000,000 of spectators. A good follow-up of the races can be found at the following web sites:

lhttp://www.ferraricorseclienti.com/fwe/events/corseclienti/home.jsp?language=en
lhttp://www.ferrarichallenge.com/
lhttp://bullishracing.blogspot.com/
lhttp://www.lucavallongo.com/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=34
l http://www.ferrarichallenge.com/assets/Cali430post.pdf
l http://www.joe250.com/images/ferrarichallenge07/ferrarichallenge07.htm
l http://www.ange-barde.com/

Ferrari of Washington (USA)