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Dylan Medler won Race 2 of the Ferrari Challenge North America, triumphing in the final event of the day held at the Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit in Imola.

Thanks to this success, the driver of the team The Collection also won the title of the Pro class. In Coppa Shell NA, the title went to Eric Marsten despite him being shoved into the gravel, while Brian Cook was crowned Pro-Am champion and Roger Monteforte secured the Shell-AM category title.

Medler got off to a great start, taking the lead from Roberto Perrina (Ferrari of Seattle), second, and Matias Perez Companc (Ferrari of Central Florida), third. In the early stages of the race, there was a terrific scrap between Medler and Perrina for the lead. Perez Companc, on the other hand, immediately lost ground to the leading duo.

Brian Cook, on the other hand, took the lead in the Pro-Am class ahead of Frank Szczesniak. In Coppa Shell, Rey Acosta was leading with a large margin over his direct rivals, even moving up to seventh overall, while Jeffrey Nunberg immediately took the lead in the Shell-AM class.

With 10 minutes to go, Race Direction imposed the entry of the Safety Car due to an off-track exit by Al Hegyi (Ferrari of Newport), thus freezing the positions, but eliminating the gaps. This led to a much more interesting final part of the race.

With five minutes to go, the Safety Car returned to the pits, thus leaving the drivers with the final skirmishes to try to win the race and the titles of their respective categories.

The Safety Car, however, returned to the track immediately due to a contact in which Marston came off the worst, ending up off the track and beached in the gravel. Bernier ended up ahead of the Ferrari of Westlake driver, but at the end of the race, Marston was classified and scored enough points to clinch the category title.

Ferrari Challenge North America – Imola – Race 2

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2021 Formula 3 Champion and former Red Bull Junior Dennis Hauger is crossing the Atlantic to take on American open-wheel racing with Andretti Global as part of its driver lineup for the 2025 season in Indy NXT.

The 21-year-old Norwegian will drive Andretti’s No. 28 entry, completing a four-driver lineup alongside Lochie Hughes, Salvador de Alba, and James Roe. 

“I’m looking forward to starting things up with the team and getting to know everyone,” Hauger said. We’re already getting down to work before the season starts with testing, and I’m excited to go out there in an Indy NXT car and get that experience. I can’t wait for the 2025 season – I hope it’s a great one.”

Hauger comes into IndyCar’s premier development category with a stout junior formula resume. He most recently spent the last three seasons in Formula 2, claiming five wins, 13 podiums and two poles over that span. He won the 2021 F3 championship on the back of four wins, nine podiums, and three poles in 20 races. He spent most of his early days karting before making his open-wheel debut in 2018 in the F4 British Championship, finishing fourth in the title race. In 2019, he finished second in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship while also going on to win the Italian F4 title that same year. 

Hauger served as a Red Bull Junior Driver for six years and was named a Red Bull Reserve Driver for the 2022 and 2023 FIA Formula One World Championship season. He is set to make his Indy NXT debut at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course at today’s Chris Griffis Memorial Test.

“Dennis is a driver who has been on our radar for some time, and we’re excited to see him make the jump into American open-wheel racing,” said J-F Thormann, President of Andretti Global. 

“He’s no stranger to performing in highly competitive development series, so I can’t think of a better next step for him than to join the Indy NXT grid. We think he’s going to be the perfect addition to round out our 2025 Indy NXT driver lineup, and we’re proud to be a part of his Indy NXT debut.”

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“Honestly, it’s not putting on any pressure”. That is what Victor Martins told Motorsport.com ahead of the Formula 2 season which he entered as one of the drivers tipped to battle for championship honours in 2024.

After all, he was the highest-placed 2023 driver to return for the new season, having finished fifth on 150 points, a total 20 greater than future Haas F1 driver Oliver Bearman. This after winning the previous year’s F3 title!

However, the season has so far failed to live up to the lofty expectations with the opening five rounds ensuring that the rest of the campaign was simply a damage limitation exercise.

While this could, in part, be put down to the clear problems that ART was having in getting up to speed with how best to use the all-new F2 chassis, it is also possible that all of the pre-season hype had in fact crept under the Frenchman’s skin.

Ultimately, a run of just four top 10 results in the opening 10 races of the season derailed any hope that Martins had of gaining an F1 promotion, a possibility that became a genuine reality when Esteban Ocon’s Alpine exit was confirmed following May’s Monaco Grand Prix.

Alpine ultimately looked in-house for Ocon’s replacement, finally settling on Jack Doohan in August – but this followed what was widely viewed as a shootout test between the Australian and former F1 driver turned Alpine World Endurance Championship pilot, Mick Schumacher. Note the lack of Martins in this.

Jack Doohan will partner Pierre Gasly at Alpine for his rookie F1 season

Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images

While Martins had unquestionably suffered with poor luck in the early phase of the year – an engine failure in Bahrain, being caught out by red flags in Australian qualifying and being the innocent bystander in a Monaco lap one crash – there were also very costly errors from himself like a lap one crash in Saudi Arabia and a woeful qualifying at Imola.

Combined, this appeared to put Martins out of contention for a seat which, for many, was his to lose should it become available.

However, the Frenchman has since become a tantalising prospect once more, with an uptick in form seeing him become one of the F2 form drivers with four second-place finishes in the last eight races.

Now eighth in the championship, Alpine has seen enough to position Martins as its candidate for the WEC rookie test which will take place in Bahrain on 3 November.

Alpine endurance team principal Philippe Sinault said: “We have the opportunity to run Victor Martins in the Rookie Test session. He is an excellent driver we know well, Alpine Academy member and working a lot with the Formula 1 team in the simulator.

“We want to give him a new experience behind the wheel of an endurance prototype and he will be able to bring a fresh perspective to our Hypercar, which is always interesting at this phase of the programme.”

This could offer a potential next step for Martins, with only an F1 reserve role appearing likely in the short term.

And the chance of securing a WEC race seat is a realistic prospect, with recently appointed sporting director Nicolas Lapierre retiring from his driving role creating one opening, and the future of Schumacher and questions over whether Mercedes would allow Jules Gounon, who is the current reserve driver and has several outings to his name already, to complete a full campaign creating further space.

Alpine is fourth in the 2024 Hypercar standings

Photo by: Andreas Beil

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Speaking of his initial opportunity in the test, Martins said: “I am super happy with this opportunity, and I am very grateful to Alpine Endurance Team for allowing me to continue learning in the world of motorsport.

“It is an opportunity for me to continue to build my experience with new engineers and a new car, as well as an opportunity to show my potential.”

But while the opportunity to compete in WEC and the iconic Le Mans 24 Hours are likely to be an enticing prospect, Martins conceded: “Although I am very focused on my single-seater journey, it is a challenge that I accept with pleasure and I hope that we will maximize the Rookie Test day, both on my side for learning, but also to allow the team to have good data as part of their development.

“I can’t wait to discover this Hypercar, which looks very fast!”

So is Martins the WEC answer that Alpine is searching for, or is he simply a box ticked for the rookie test?

Well, the answer is probably yes to both. He is the ideal answer to fill the potential driving void for the future and could likely become a top-level talent in WEC. But given that even in the statement released by Alpine confirming his test he is pouring cold water on the prospect of a switch at this stage of his career, it seems that a full-time crossover is not foremost on his radar.

While there is no harm in running a third F2 season, it is not something that is viewed in a broadly positive light, meaning that many drivers linked to F1 teams fall instead into reserve roles, with varying levels of testing programmes to keep their hand in and evaluate their F1 potential.

Just as was the case with Doohan, this is the most likely option for Martins.

So having answered yes to him being the ideal answer to Alpine’s problems – which he undoubtedly has the potential to be – the answer to the question, will he be the eventual answer, is probably a no at this stage.