(DANVILLE, VA, May 20) Todd Morici and Peter Giddings have been so dominant in the Shell Ferrari/Maserati Historic Challenge that they were awarded the “Masters” designation in 2001. At the 3.27 mile VIRginia International Raceway this weekend they both demonstrated that they’ve lost none of their mastery.
Giddings took one approach. He qualified on pole for the first Drum Brake Group in his ex-Sir Stirling Moss Maserati 250F, one of the classic Grand Prix cars from the 1950s. Giddings then led every lap of the first race, which gave him pole for the second, and again he led every lap for a pair of overall (and class) wins.
 Peter Greenfield, Alfa 8C35.
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Morici took a different approach to the same end result. He qualified on pole for the first Disc Brake race in his 512 BB/LM, but Chuck Wegner in the ex-NART LeMans 512 BB/LM beat Morici to the first corner. Morici got by Wegner on the fourth lap, and held off Wegner to take the win by less than one second. That win should have given Morici the pole for the second race, but a penalty for missing a mandatory driver’s meeting dropped him to the last starting position. It took Morici only three laps to catch Wegner, who was leading. Wegner missed a shift -- the first he could recall -- and Morici got by. This time Morici’s margin of victory over Wegner was over 13 seconds.
 Tom Williamson in the twin-turbo 288 GTO.
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Morici and Giddings aren’t the only drivers in the series who continue to demonstrate their mastery. Peter LeSaffre and Tom Price have each won championships in both Drum and Disc groups; at VIR they traded class wins in the Disc Brake race. Price drove his 250 GTO to a win on Saturday over LeSaffre’s 275 GTB, and on Sunday the positions were reversed. Ned Spieker finished third in a 250 SWB/Comp in both races.
 Peter Giddings, Maserati 250F.
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Price, in his Maserati 200 SI finished second to Wegner’s identical car in both races (Wegner is another former Drum Group Champion), and LeSaffre’s Maserati 300S took a pair of seconds behind Giddings. Stephen Dudley, another former Disc Champion, traded class wins with Bob Benedict; both drove Michelotto-built 308 racers. Tom Williamson drove another V8, the twin-turbo 288 GTO, in the Exhibition class. Williamson qualified three seconds faster than the other normally aspirated V8 Ferraris, and finished third overall behind the two BB/LMs in both races. Peter Greenfield drove his Alfa Romeo 8C35 to two wins over Spieker’s earlier Alfa Romeo Tipo B, and John Giordano picked up a pair of class wins in his ex-NART 365 GTB/4 Daytona.
The Shell Ferrari Historic Challenge, for authentic racing Ferraris built prior to the 1980s, racing Maseratis of that period, and pre-war Alfa Romeos of the type raced by the Scuderia Ferrari, is organized by Ferrari North America, and sanctioned by the Grand American Road Racing Association. The series, now in its tenth year in North America, is sponsored by Shell Oil and Officine Panerai. The next event for the Shell Historics will be at Le Circuit at Mont-Tremblant in Canada on June 15-17. Further information on the Shell Historic Challenge may be obtained by visiting www.ferrarichallenge.com.
