In conjunction with the 25th Ferrari Challenge championship, the Italian car company has unveiled the Ferrari 488 Challenge as their race representative. The Ferrari Challenge evolved from clients’ racing event back in 1992 to a full-blown global one-make series. Each year, the Challenge racing car will be a track-only iteration of the latest V8 supercar in the market.
This year, they created the fastest Challenge ever. The Ferrari 488 Challenge was able to break the lap record on Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit in one minute and 15.5 seconds, a whole second faster than the previous record holder, the Ferrari 458 Challenge EVO.
From its appearance, the 488 Challenge looks like its sibling, the 488 GTB, topped off with a massive rear spoiler. The aesthetic resemblance doesn’t come with a power downgrade though, since the race engineers have consulted with the Ferrari Styling Centre (the one behind those of one-of-a-kind bespoke commissions) to maintain both the looks and the strong performance.
Owners of the 488 Challenge will have an extensive range of customization options, so that the car is tailored to suit the driver’s driving style rather than the racing track. This includes settings and calibration for traction control and braking. The differentials are all separate and adjustable while racing via steering wheel-mounted controllers.
The new customer racing car, unveiled at the Daytona circuit in Florida, arrives as Mercedes signals its intention to start offering its customers even more choice when it comes to competition cars. Due to the overwhelming success of its latest car built to GT3 racing specifications, Mercedes AMG is going one better with a GT4 model derived from the Mercedes-AMG GT R.
“The development of the Mercedes-AMG GT4 is another important step in the continuing expansion of our Mercedes-AMG motorsport program. The excellent feedback of our Customer Sports teams concerning the AMG GT3 and the increasing interest for GT4 race cars strengthened us in our decision. We are delighted to address an even larger target group of amateur and professional drivers and teams in the future with it,” said Mercedes-AMG chairman Tobias Moers.
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