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Emanuele Pirro victorious in Maranello
Maranello, 24. Januar 1998 On January 24, Ferrari hosted the prize-giving ceremony in Maranello for the winners of the two racing series organized by the Factory. So, not only the winners of the famous F355 Challenge (which is divided up into three European sections, plus an American and a so-called "Pacific" series) had been invited to the little city near Modena, but also the winners of the Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, a series open to certain types of classic Ferrari sports- and GT-cars.
Emanuele Pirro, who is know for his passion for historic race-cars in gereral and especially Ferrari, had participated succesfully in Historic Challenge and the Historic Grand Prix de Monaco. Driving a German-owned 512 M at Monza twice to victory and winning its class in the Monaco Grand Prix with a 375 MM. so, it was just natural for him to be present in Maranello on January 24 as well. However, the highlight of the one-day event was a mere pleasure for the professional driver: Ferrari hosted a Go-Kart race on the "Pista di Fiorano", the nearby, factory-owned track. The drivers of the F355 Challenge and the Historic Challenge formed different groups for the first heat (so one had not to drive against unkown opponents). Emanuele had to start from the 10th position (which had been determined by lot) among the other pilots of the Historic Challenge, but eventually took the win. And the day became even better. In the semi-final, Emanuele had to start from 16th position - the winners of the other foregoing heats had been set on better positions to give them a chance for the overall win. Nevertheless, Pirro came in on 1st again. This win earned him the pole position for the final race in which he faced Ferrari's new F1 test-driver Luca Badoer, the former Grand Prix-pilot Andrea Montermini and the Go-Kart world-champion Beggio. In the end, Emanuele again was the first to cross the finishing line, followed by Beggio and Badoer in a remarkable distance.
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