Ferrari: Fabienne masters the challenge

In order to concentrate on the W Series, Fabienne Wohlwend took part in only three Ferrari Challenge Europe events this season in the Octane126 team from Zurich. Her successes last year, culminating in the title of Women's World Champion, resulted in her being transferred to the Pro category. There, she met up with the best Ferrari drivers of all, who had their final battle at the Finali Mondiali in Mugello last weekend.

Around 170 Ferraris, including about a hundred of the 488 Challenge type, took part in the various world series and the show drives. With Hublot, a well-known Swiss watch manufacturer was one of the main sponsors of the championship and the event.

Stronger competition among professionals
In the midst of the world's elite, the Liechtensteiner showed that the switch from the Formula 3 race car to the GT one-make cup car, which is twice as powerful but also heavier, does not cause her much trouble. After two eighth places in the last two rounds of the Ferrari Challenge Europa Trofeo Pirelli, she finished the world final in an excellent fourth place.

Fabienne Wohlwend: "I knew it wouldn't be easy in the Pro class in 2019. The competition is much stronger than it has been so far in the Am- and Pro-Am. That's why I'm very satisfied with the last race. I mastered the car change and was able to compensate for the lack of experience."

Bad luck with the gearbox technology
Fourth place in the world final race among 22 riders from the Pro and Pro-Am categories also meant the best result of her three participations for Wohlwend. In the spring in Valencia, last year's women's world champion had qualified in an outstanding third place. However, gearbox damage forced her to switch to a replacement car, which resulted in her being relegated to the last row of the grid.

The same thing happened at her second appearance in Imola at the end of September, but then only in the second race. Starting the first race again in a good third place, she lost two positions due to a small mistake and finished fifth.

Second place for Grossmann
In general, her teammate Björn Grossmann fared better. The pro from Germany won the second of the two Valencia races. This was followed by five second places in the Challenge and finally another second place in the World Final race. This was won by Adam Carroll from Great Britain with a lead of 421 thousandths over Grossmann.

Because Octane126 had not competed in the far-off season opener in Bahrain and Grossmann had dropped out early in the run leading up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans, these top results still only resulted in fourth place in the championship.

All the results and the championship standings can be found in the link ferrarichallenge.alkamelsystems.com can be taken.

From banking specialist to racing pro
By the way, Fabienne Wohlwend is not only competing in the pros, she is now also focusing everything on racing professionally. She quit her 80 percent job at VB Bank Liechtenstein at the end of October to concentrate on racing.

For 2020, the 22-year-old from Schellenberg is again the only German-speaker qualified for the W Series, which she finished sixth in her debut year. Where dates allow, she will continue to compete in the Ferrari Challenge and, where possible, in other racing series.

races.ferrari.com/en/corse-clienti/europe