Dino Zamparelli, partnered with Mike Wilds in the Ferrari 458 Challenge, took the opening race win at the BritCar season opener at Silverstone. Despite being a class 2 entry, they were lightning quick in the 50 minute race and took the overall win.
During the DZ Racing Season Launch Event in March, it was announced that Dino would be racing a Ferrari 458 with Mike Wilds in the BritCar series, alongside his Porsche Carrera Cup programme. The first race weekend has just gone on the 9th of April at the Silverstone circuit.
BritCar Endurance racing is comprised of an amateur driver matched up with a pro driver. Dino has been entered in a Ferrari 458 with 71 year old Mike Wilds. There are 4 classes in the BritCar series, with class 1 being the most powerful in terms of power to weight ratio. The DMS LTD backed Ferrari 458 of Dino and Mike is a class 2 car, and Dino managed to qualify the car in 5th place overall and 1st in class. He said of his qualifying performance:
"Qualifying was really fun because the tyres lasted forever so I was able to keep pushing every lap. I didn't quite get the lap hooked up in the early part of the session, but I kept chipping away and managed to nick pole in class which was satisfying, as the professional drivers in our class are all pretty experienced and quick guys!"
Mike, 71, and Dino, 24, enjoy a selfie before the races
For the first race, which is a 50 minute 'sprint race', Mike Wilds took the start and kept the car clean before handing over to Dino half way through. Mike drove a controlled stint with strong lap times allowing the Ferrari to be in touching distance with the top 3. Once Dino jumped in, his blistering lap times bolted them up the leaderboard, and overtaking a plenty, before they took the chequered flag some 15 seconds clear of the field on the opening round of the season.
"Race 1 was great fun! It was my first ever endurance race as such and I really enjoyed it. I was overtaking seemingly 5 or 6 cars every lap as you lap cars and dodge traffic. I caught the leaders up and overtook them after Mike drove a really strong stint. I enjoyed that a lot!"
Zamparelli and Wilds took overall honours in the opening round
Race 2 is a 2 hour endurance race, and the Ferrari duo were on pole due to winning the sprint race. Unfortunately, despite a good first hour from Mike, the pitstops proved problematic as a wrong strategy call from the team on fuel, cost the pair valuable time on track. Zamparelli headed out on track in 6th overall but some 4 laps down. Despite managing to set some really quick lap times, 5th overall and 3rd in class was all Zamparelli could muster and the pair were forced to put race 2 down as an error on strategy.
Of the whole weekend, Dino said:
"I really enjoyed my first Britcar Endurance race weekend. Mike drive like a true legend, was really fast all weekend and didn't make any errors. Mike has been racing endurance stuff for a long time, so it was good to learn from him. I enjoyed taking the first win of the year and it felt good to get a win in!
"We'll now look to refocus for the Porsche Carrera Cup weekend at Donington next, but it was nice to get to a winning feeling and the Ferrari was awesome to drive. The Ferrari is so different to the Porsche, so I'm still learning how to drive it, but it was good fun to drive and I had some good battles. Overall I'm happy and glad I could show my speed this weekend!"
Thank you to our sponsors DMS LTD, The Car Buying Group and Traki App.
Rounds 3 & 4 of the Britcar series take place on Saturday the 6th of September.