Ferrari Challenge UK Round 2 Oulton Park

Report by Matt Evans

19 May 2023

The Ferrari Challenge is an often-overlooked series. For anyone who loves Ferrari then this event has you covered, with a vast array of cars from the Italian marque on show, it was certainly a sight to behold. From the latest in the range to the classics we know and love it was certainly a Ferrari fan’s dream, and with a ticket price of £10 certainly nothing to be unhappy with.

I chose to attend on the Friday, and by a stroke of luck from the weather this proved to give me a nice variety of photos a proved a challenge for the drivers. Racing fans will note the 488 Evo used by the Ferrari Challenge has a different look to the 488 GT3. This was my first thought looking at the cars but despite the difference in look the cars are certainly entertaining to watch.

The Ferrari Challenge itself is run by Ferrari themselves and this is very clear on entering the circuit. Ferrari flags flew next to Italian ones, and you were immediately in sight of the large hospitality centre. It is worth noting the MSV ticket didn’t get you access to hospitality, this was for Ferrari customers, but the paddock was open to all and certainly impressive in its own right, more about this later.

The day started wet, with downpours throughout FP1. Han Sikkens (HR Owen) set the fastest time of the Trofeo Pirelli class with a 1.48.807 and in the Coppa Shell class Paul Hogan (Stratstone Manchester), who lives just 20 minutes from the circuit, set a time of 1.52.249. By the time FP2 rolled around the rain had cleared but the track was still wet, proving difficult for the drivers but providing some great photo opportunities.

FP2 was led by John Dhillon (Graypaul Nottingham) in the Trofeo Pirelli and Chris Smith (Graypaul Birmingham) in the Coppa Shell, with times of 1.50.733 and 1.53.537 respectively, however a red flag brought an early end to the session. I chose to shoot this session from Cascades, and it did not disappoint, as I was able to get the cars kicking up spray on their run down from Old Hall.

Following this was Ferrari customer activity in the form of Passione Ferrari. For 45 minutes, Ferrari owners tear around the track in the latest models while under the instruction of Ferrari’s driver coaches. The goal is not to race each other, but to improve on your time lap time as the session progresses. This unique feature of the event provided an opportunity to see Ferrari cars at home, on the track. These are, we must not forget, high performance cars.

Several of Ferrari’s newest models were on show alongside several privately owned 488 Challenge Evos, certainly an interesting sight. The road cars themselves are certainly photogenic. Not normally one to photograph road cars, I took a keen liking to one car in particular, an SF90 Stradale in a stunning Abu Dhabi blue.

I took this chance to try a few spots along the start finish straight and had some success at the last marshal post before the catch fencing, although the marshal did seem surprised as I was the only spectator who had come anywhere near Old Hall.

The final session before lunch was the qualifying. The track was almost fully dry but, in the spots covered by trees there remained dampness. This suggested that qualifying was going to be interesting, more than likely going down to the wire. For the qualifying session I chose to set myself up at Lodge corner. For me it was a first as I had never shot at Lodge before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. But once the session got going, I was rewarded with some truly wonderful photo opportunities.

Using the 70-200mm I was able to switch between tight and wide shots, giving me lots of variety. A mid-session red flag allowed me to move further towards the start/finish line and again I was able to get a nice variety of different angles as the cars approached and passed under the bridge at Dear’s Leap.

The mid-session red flag meant the drivers had just 11 minutes to set the grid. The drivers pushed hard, with Andrew Morrow taking pole position in the Trofeo Pirelli with a time of 1.40.419, with Han Sikkens on second with a time of 1.40.527. The Coppa Shell class was topped by Paul Simmerson (Graypaul Birmingham) with a time of 1.41.393.

Between the qualifying and race Ferrari put together something that on its own would have been worth the ticket price. On track Ferrari had all its latest models and nearing on 40 other cars in a parade led by one of their SF90s. The parade made 2 laps of the circuit giving plenty of opportunity for photos of something that can be said is a rare sight.

The parade consisted of Ferrari showroom cars as well as owners who had brought their own cars to the event. For this I chose to shoot with a 200-500mm from the top of knicker brook, looking down into the chicane.

The race itself was closely fought, with Morrow and Sikkens battling it out for the entire 30 minutes. Staying within sight of each other the two battled hard with Sikkens taking the lead from Morrow early on. Morrow fought back and took back the lead from the HR Owen driver and defended his lead right to the chequered flag. The battle in Coppa shell was equally hard fought, with Simmerson losing the lead to Hogan out of Old Hall after number of closely fought laps. 

Despite Simmerson’s best efforts he couldn’t get the best of Hogan who took the win for Stratstone Manchester. The podium in Trofeo Pirelli was completed by Carl Cavers (Graypaul Nottingham) with Faisal Al-Faisal and John Dhillon rounding out the top 5.

In the Coppa Shell class third place was taken by Johnathon Satchell with Paul Rogers and Peter Hunter completing the top 5. For the race I went to one of my personal favourite places to shoot at Oulton Park, the hill to the inside of knicker brook. I used a 200-500mm and 70- 200mm for this corner as I wanted some tight shots of them exiting the corner as well as panning shots of them running up clay hill.

Post race I went back to the paddock to get some more shots of the cars Ferrari had brought to show off and with this being primarily a customer event they certainly pulled out all the stops. Alongside the owners with a mix of California’s, 458’s and even some 430’s, Ferrari had all their new models on show including my own personal favourite, the 812 Competizione. Alongside this there was also their SF90 Spider in a striking yellow and the Richard Mille branded SF90 safety car.

My walk around the paddock also had the unintended effect of catching the drivers as they left the podium. I managed to snap a photo of Paul Simmerson as he left the podium, not something I was expecting to have the opportunity to do, but another bonus of the incredible access to the paddock.

The 24-70mm saw most of its use in the paddock, with the ability to get right up to the cars giving me the chance to try different angles on the cars. Access around the paddock was very much a selling point for this event, with the owners more than eager to have people see their Ferraris.

All in all, it was a good day out and an interesting opportunity to photograph some very expensive cars. For the price paid I would certainly look at attending the Ferrari Challenge again, maybe at a different circuit later in the year, as you really did get good value for money.

The Ferrari staff were very accommodating of the admittedly small number of amateur photographers who attended but directed people behind us while we were taking snaps and were more than happy to answer any questions we had. It is a note to add though, this is mainly a Ferrari customer event, with those in attendance owning Ferraris. For the diehard racing fan, this event might not be for you, but for those who love Ferraris and love photographing them, it is an event worth giving a look.

I’d like to thank Cheyn and Jason from Ferrari UK for his help, I very much appreciated them both taking time out of their day to help me clarify all points of this article and answer any questions that I had.