Description:

2008 Ferrari F430 Challenge/GT3 Scuderia by Kessel

• One of just 54 F430 Challenge chassis upgraded to GT3 specification by Ferrari Racing Partner team Kessel Racing.
• Delivered new to Belgian GT team Scuderia Monza in 2008.
• Further upgraded to Scuderia GT3 specification by Kessel Racing in 2010; one of only 25 cars to have received such modification.
• Campaigned extensively in Belcar Endurance and Sprint events between 2008 and 2011.
• Subsequently owned by renowned Ferrari specialists Toni Auto of Maranello from 2017 to 2022.
• Accompanied by Ferrari Classiche certification, referencing its original chassis and engine.
• Eligible for Club Competizione GT events, and prestigious Historic Racing series including Endurance Racing Legends and GT3 Legends.

The 1990s witnessed the welcome return of Production-derived GT cars to top line competition, with old sparring partners such as Ferrari and Porsche renewing hostilities in the new-for-1994 BPR Global GT series and its successor, the FIA GT Championship. However, increasing speeds and budgets led to the launch in 2006 of the FIA GT3 European Championship; this providing a competitive arena–and, crucially, a robust regulatory framework–for cars homologated with a more cost-conscious specification than the incumbent GT1 and GT2 machinery.

Several manufacturers were moved to develop cars for the new series, including Ferrari, Aston Martin and Audi. The former’s partner team, Kessel Racing, promptly homologated a GT3 upgrade package for the existing F430 Challenge model; modifications centring around an enlarged 4.5-litre V8 engine–affording a power increase from 490 to some 550 horsepower–and heavily revised aerodynamics and bodywork. Results were impressive, with the F430 GT3 of Hector Lester and Allen Simonsen winning the series’ inaugural race at Silverstone in 2006, and the Kessel Racing-run car of Henri Moser and Gilles Vannelet securing the Championship in 2007.

Just 54 F430 Challenge cars were converted to F430 GT3 specification by Kessel Racing, with this chassis, 159322, being delivered to the Belgian Scuderia Monza team. The team’s primary focus for 2008 and beyond was to be Belcar–the Belgian GT Championship in all but name–although the car made its race debut at August’s Zolder 24 Hours race. Driven by brothers Frank, Hans and Kurt Thiers, and veteran long-distance specialist Guy Van Mol, the car qualified 11th, prior to finishing a creditable 12th overall and sixth in class in the race.

Following a retirement in September’s Belcar round at Spa-Francorchamps, 159322’s third and final outing of the year saw a return to Zolder for the Belcar round supporting the FIA GT Championship. The 27-car entry boasted four F430 GT3s, although the two-part race was dominated by the Mosler MT900Rs. However, the team’s season ended on a high note, with Frank and Hans Thiers finishing the second race in fifth position; the pair beaten only by three Moslers and the sister F430 GT3 of Vincent Vosse and Eddy Renard.

For 2009, Scuderia Monza redoubled their Belcar efforts, with Frank and Hans Thiers driving 159322 exclusively. Although their opposition had increased notably over the Winter–with cars such as the Audi R8 GT3 and Aston Martin DBRS9 making their Series debuts–the season started strongly for the pair, with third- and seventh-placed finishes in the opening round at Zolder in April. A disappointing double retirement at Spa-Francorchamps in May was redressed somewhat by two further visits to the circuit that year; the June round yielding a ninth and sixth, while July saw the Thiers record an eighth and a sixth-placed finish. The season concluded at Zolder in October, in which the brothers finished seventh and eighth in the first and second races respectively.

In 2010, 159322 was returned to Kessel Racing for a further upgrade to Scuderia GT3 specification; the modifications being principally aerodynamic in nature. Duly renumbered 159322-SC21 to reflect its newly updated status, the car was one of just 25 chassis to receive such modification, and one of only seven updated that year.

Over the Winter, the Belcar Series had abandoned its “double header” format in favour of a single, longer race; the first round of the 2010 season, held at Zolder in April, being three hours in length. Having qualified only 13th, Frank and Hans Thiers drove a measured race to finish seventh overall, while at Spa in July they finished a fine fifth behind the likes of GT regulars Anthony Kumpen, Steven Kane and Bert Longin. The only other notable result of the year for the brothers was in the 125-minute season finale at Zolder, in which they finished ninth.

A partial Belcar campaign for Scuderia Monza in 2011 saw “SC21” contest only four races; the year commencing in challenging fashion with retirement in both early season rounds at Zolder. However, the three-hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in June saw a welcome change in fortune–and a superb GT3B class win–although Zolder once again proved to be the team’s bogey track, with the year concluding with a further enforced retirement in October’s season-closing round.

It is believed that the car remained in the care of the Thiers brothers until its acquisition by legendary Ferrari specialists Toni Auto of Maranello in 2017. Located barely 200 metres from the fabled Ferrari factory gates on the Via Abetone Inferiore, the company’s association with their illustrious neighbours stretches back to the early 1950s, with founder Franco Toni’s employment in Ferrari’s Race Department. Appropriately, Sig. Toni was seconded to Belgian Ferrari importers Garage Francorchamps for two years in 1954, making the involvement of his grandsons–the present proprietors of the business–with “SC21”, more than 60 years later, all the more poignant.

Acquired from Toni Auto by the vendor in 2022, but expertly maintained by them ever since, the car has been used only sparingly in the present ownership–and exclusively in non-competitive Club Competizione GT events, including most recently at the 2024 Finali Mondiali at Imola. Significantly, its ECU records cumulative chassis mileage of a relatively modest 16,730 kilometres from new, while the engine has covered just 5,000 kilometres since its most recent rebuild–with a further unexpired “life” of some 20,000 kilometres remaining. Additionally, the car’s gearbox, clutch, driveshafts and suspension are all listed as having covered just 1,500 kilometres since either rebuild or replacement.

Immaculately prepared–and fresh from its involvement in Ferrari’s Finali Mondi celebrations at Imola, “SC21” remains a highly significant example of this most versatile of Ferrari Competition GT cars; additionally representing an attractive and cost effective entry into the numerous Historic GT and Sports Prototype series for which it is eligible.

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