Few one-make racing championships rank alongside the gentleman-pleasing Ferrari Challenge. Now in its 30th year, the competition encompasses four official series around the globe (including one in the UK) and represents a pleasingly significant line on Ferrari’s balance sheet. Accordingly, the launch of a new Challenge car is an important event - and not just because there have been eight Challenge derivatives before it, stretching all the way back to the original 348.
No, this year is particularly noteworthy because the latest 296 Challenge car is the first to be powered by a V6. Its predecessor, the 488 Challenge (and, indeed, every version before it) earned a breathed-on version of whatever Ferrari-built V8 the road-going equivalent got. Now the manufacturer has turned to a hybridised 120-degree, 3.0-litre V6 in its mid-engined mainstay, so the racing car must inevitably follow suit.
However, purists need not fret: much like the 296 GT3 that Ferrari revealed last year, the Challenge car does without the electric components, making it helpfully lighter than the showroom model. It is unlikely to miss the battery-powered assistance either - thanks to ‘substantial modifications’ that Ferrari hasn't yet divulged, the Challenge-grade engine is said to develop 700hp with torque peaking at 546lb ft. Its maker reckons that sets a new power record for the segment (whatever that means) at 234hp per litre. Which is an impressively chunky amount any way you slice it.
Doubtless Ferrari is saving the full details for next week, when the 296 Challenge is due to be presented at the Finali Mondiali at Mugello, but suffice it to say that the new car is set to deliver ‘downforce figures unprecedented in the single-make series’ history’ - in excess of 870kg at 250 km/h, in fact - and benefits from the debut of the ABS EVO Track system as well newly developed 19-inch Pirelli tyres. It absolutely looks the part, too. The car is due to make its racing debut next year, but expect to learn more about it by the end of next week.
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