Armstrong dominates Race 1 | Ferrari Challenge Australasia Phillip Island

PHILLIP ISLAND, Australia — The opening race of the Ferrari Challenge Australasia weekend didn’t disappoint, with Rick Armstrong putting on a dominant performance to win Race 1 at Phillip Island. Antoine Gittany came home in second after chasing down Armstrong for the lead in the latter stages of the race, with the pole-sitter, Ernst Kirchmayr, having to settle for third-place.

Ferrari Challenge Australasia Phillip Island Race 1 Results

• 1st: Rick Armstrong (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 2nd: Antoine Gittany (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 3rd: Ernst Kirchmayr (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 4th: Enzo Cheng (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 5th: Jim Pollicina (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 6th: D. Hamilton (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 7th: Aemel Nordin (Coppa Shell)
• 8th: Adnan Sibai (Trofeo Pirelli)
• 9th: David Trewern (Coppa Shell)
• 10th: Ross Tomain (Trofeo Pirelli 488)
• 11th: Masahiro Taguchi (Coppa Shell)
• 12th: Baby Kei (Coppa Shell)
• 13th: R. Steele (Trofeo Pirelli 488)
• 14th: J. Yu (Trofeo Pirelli 488)
• 15th: Tony Baildon (Coppa Shell)
• 16th: Michael Walker (Coppa Shell)

As It Happened: Phillip Island Race 1

Ernst Kirchmayr led Rick Armstrong on the starting grid, but it didn’t take long for Armstrong to show his pace, immediately taking over a one-second lead within the opening stages of the race. Despite qualifying on pole, it was clear that Kirchmayr didn’t have the pace to win the first contest of the weekend, however, Antonie Gittany certainly had a chance of winning. It took Gittany over 20 minutes to get the move done, but once Gittany was past Armstrong, there was no stopping him. But if Gittany was going to win this race, he’d have to close a ten-second gap to Armstrong. For a while, Gittany was looking like a real threat, getting the gap to under five-seconds, however, in the end, it proved to be too much of a gap for Gittany to narrow down in such a small amount of time. Armstrong looked fast in Bathurst, and he looked even faster at Phillip Island, winning to opening race of the weekend!

Driver of the Race: Rick Armstrong

Although an obvious choice, I think there is nobody more deserving of the TIFOSI7 driver of the race award than Rick Armstrong. From the moment the green flag dropped, Armstrong was leading the way, and he didn’t stop until crossing the checkered flag 30 minutes later. Antoine Gittany was the only driver to make Armstrong sweat in Race 1, but even he finished over five-seconds away from Armstrong as they crossed the line. Well done Rick Armstrong!