Filed under: Motorsports, Classics, Ferrari, Racing

As motorists are confronted with constricting regulations and fewer places to unleash their sportscars, track-day cars are becoming a bigger deal by the day. But if you’re going to take to the track, why limit yourself to something street legal? Especially if you’ve got the means. Like, say… $700,000.

What you’re looking at is the Scuderia Ferrari Tipo 642 which Jean Alesi campaigned in the 1991 Formula One World Championship. Though Alesi scored three podiums with this car, none were better than third place - peppered by eight DNFs - landing him seventh in the drivers’ championship behind the likes of Ayrton Senna, Nigel Mansell, Riccardo Patrese, Gerhard Berger, Alain Prost and Nelson Piquet. (All but Patrese and Berger would go down in history as world champions, several as multiple champs to boot.) That should hardly deter buyers from salivating over the 700-horsepower turbocharged V12 engine, though, reined in by none of the electronic driver aids that would creep into the sport in later years.

Interested? Follow the link below to the Aero Toy Store in Fort Lauderdale, which also appears to have a couple of F430 GTCs in stock if sportscar racing is more at your speed. Photos in the gallery below and video after the jump.

[Source: Aero Toy Store via CarScoop]

Continue reading Find of the Day: Jean Alesi’s 1991 Scuderia Ferrari 642 [w/video]

Find of the Day: Jean Alesi’s 1991 Scuderia Ferrari 642 [w/video] originally appeared on Ferrari News on Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Hirings/Firings/Layoffs, Ferrari

There are plenty of racing series around the world that attract big names from Formula One. Le Mans endurance sportscar racing ranks high among them, but the former F1 pilots usually go to the top-tier LMP1 class. Sometimes the GT1 class draws some big names, but this year it’s the GT2 category that’s drawing two drivers familiar to F1 fans: Giancarlo Fisichella and Jean Alesi.

After 14 years on the grid with six different teams, Fisichella was called up to Ferrari to fill in for Felipe Massa last season. He’s been kept on as a test and reserve driver for the Scuderia this year, and though had hoped to secure a race seat (with Ferrari’s blessing) for another F1 team this season, none proved anxious to sign an aging driver who could be called back to Maranello at a moment’s notice. Instead, he’ll be contesting the full Le Mans Series calendar in Europe behind the wheel of a Ferrari F430 GTC for AF Corse, a team which shares close relations with both Ferrari and Maserati. After a career devoted to formula racing (with a couple of seasons in touring cars), the foray into sportscar racing will be a novelty for Fisico.

Joining him in the cockpit will be none other than Jean Alesi, who tested for AF Corse back in October. The former grand prix winner was always a favorite among the tifosi, and since retiring from Formula One has tried his hand at stock cars in Asia and touring cars in Germany.

Alesi and Fisichella will be supported by Toni Vilander, the Finnish driver who took the FIA GT2 titles in 2007 and 2008. AF Corse will field two additional F430 GTCs in the Le Mans Series, one driven by Gianmaria Bruni (another former F1 driver, GP2 race winner and Le Mans class winner) and FIA GT2 class winner Jaime Melo, and another by the returning race-winning Argentine pairing of Luis Perez Companc and Matias Russo. Details in the press release after the jump.

[Source: Ferrari]

Continue reading Ferrari F1 veterans Fisichella and Alesi team up to contest LMS GT2

Ferrari F1 veterans Fisichella and Alesi team up to contest LMS GT2 originally appeared on Ferrari News on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you checked out the images we posted of Felipe Massa’s return to Maranello, you may have spotted the returning Brazilian driver chatting with one Jean Alesi and wondered what he was doing there.

The French driver raced for the Scuderia from 1991 through 1995, scoring a handful of podiums and a solitary grand prix victory in Montreal. Along with longtime team-mate Gerhard Berger, Alesi switched places with Michael Schumacher to Benetton-Renault in 1996, then bounced between a few other teams before retiring from Formula One at the end of 2001. Since then he’s been competing in DTM and then headlined the new Speedcar Series.

With the ill-fated Asian stock car series now deceased, however, the racing world has been wondering what the retired F1 driver would try his hand at next, and on Tuesday they got their hint when Alesi showed up at Fiorano to test the Ferrari F430 GT2. Alesi’s slated to race for AF Corse, the team run by Amato Ferrari, who shares strong ties with both Maranello and Maserati but no direct familial relation despite the common name.

AF Corse is the reigning two-time champion in the FIA GT series, but is reportedly preparing to tackle the European Le Mans Series, including its headline event, next year. The test session apparently exceeded expectations, paving the way for the 45-year-old driver to race Ferraris once again, for the first time in fourteen years, next season.