01/07/2010
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The legendary rolling hills, daunting straights and demanding corners of Road America challenged both man and machine when the Ferrari Challenge rolled into the picturesque Wisconsin resort of Elkhart Lake this past weekend. Leading the time sheets in qualifying was Boardwalk Ferrari\'s Scott Tucker who was looking to close the 180 point gap to championship leader Mark McKenzie of Ferrari of Houston. Outside pole was captured by Ferrari of Silicon Valley\'s Zak Brown whose teammate Henri Richard occupied the fourth position split by a resurgent James Henley of Ferrari of Beverly Hills in third.

When the green flag dropped, Tucker motored into the lead with Brown nipping at his heels and that is the way it stayed for the ensuing 16 laps. Brown looked racy over the first 10 laps filling Tucker\'s mirrors at every turn. It was Tucker\'s pace and consistency; however, that got the better of Brown as the Boardwalk Ferrari driver was able to nudge out a gap in the last third of the race and hold it to the checkered. Brown\'s stablemate Richard was able to claim the final podium position after spirited race long battle with Henley.

The drive of the race however belonged to championship leader McKenzie who drove from the back of the grid, capturing the fastest race lap along the way, to finish fourth. Also sporting a remarkable drive was 2007 Challenge champion Mike Zoi of The Collection (Coral Gables, FL). Starting in 19th, Zoi was able to mount a charge and finish with solid points in sixth.

Sunday\'s action began with Tucker claiming the pole over Ferrari of Beverly Hill\'s James Henley. McKenzie keen to keep his championship lead slotted into P3. Rounding out the fast 5 were Saturday\'s protagonists Brown and Zoi. When the green flew McKenzie served noticed to the field that his Saturday performance was no fluke, immediately attached his car to second place Henley\'s rear bumper. By lap 2 McKenzie lined up Henley on the exit of turn 7 and executed a textbook overtaking maneuver into 8. From their McKenzie immediately closed the gap to Tucker and began the hunt, looking for a way past. On fourth lap, the normally precise Tucker made a rare error at turn 11 and lost the drive off the corner. This was all that McKenzie needed as he summoned the attention of all 500 cavallini and motored by. From here the two leaders moved in lock step, but today belonged to championship leader McKenzie. At the checkered, McKenzie was able to pull out a 3 second lead over his rival. Turning in a sensational drive was third place finisher Henri Richard of Ferrari of Silicon Valley. After starting sixth, Richard stayed behind teammate Brown in fifth for first 13 laps before dispatching with courtesy and worked his way past. On the last circuit, Henri was able to catch and pass Henley to capture the last step on the podium. With this Richard was able to move up the championship standing three places to fourth overall.

Now with Road America in the rearview mirror, the action moves north of the border to picturesque Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. With Tucker 145 markers back, the stage for a dramatic end to the championship is set.