The annual Festival Italia at Brands Hatch is always a highlight of the Ferrari Owners’ Club events calendar, and 2025 saw the 10th running of this celebration of all things Italian. Organised and Promoted by Jonathan Palmer’s Motorsport Vision empire the 2025 edition was yet another resounding success with large crowds, plenty of on and off track activity including a record breaking 218 Ferrari’s on display and warm summer sunshine. The Ferrari Owners’ Club are a founding stakeholder in the event and our race series has been a headline feature at all 10 Festivals.

The Superformance Ferrari Club Classic Series again enjoyed feature race billing and the entry list comprised a total of 15 cars and 16 drivers (more about that later), complemented by support races for both modern and classic Alfa Romeos and Italian Intermarque.

QUALIFYING

Following a 20 minute Free Practice session the 15 Ferrari’s headed out for Qualifying and it was the Group 5 355 Challenge of Tris Simpson who topped the time sheets throughout the 20 minute session, culminating in a pole position time of 53.768 seconds. Behind Simpson the 355’s of Colin Sowter, Wayne Marrs, Tim Mogridge and Vance Kearney together with Gary Culver’s rapid 328 GTB all vied for the remaining front row positions. When the 20 minutes elapsed the starting order for Race 1 would be Simpson, Sowter, Marrs, Culver, Mogridge and Kearney making up the first 3 rows of the grid. Behind them the last of the 355 Challenge runners, Chris Compton-Goddard would line up in 7th position ahead of Lewis Sharman’s 348 Challenge. Row 5 would be a Group 3 328 GTB lockout of Chris Butler and Nigel Sayles with Row 6 seeing the fastest of the Group 2 cars, Jago Keen’s 308 GTB starting just ahead of the returning 328 GTB of Charlie Ugo. Peter Everingham (328 GTB), Robin Fisk (Mondiale QV) and Robert Greaves (328 GTB) completed the runners.

RACE 1

As is traditional at Festival Italia the grid for Race 1 was assembled on the startline an hour or so ahead of the race and the gates at Paddock Hill bend opened releasing hundreds, if not thousands of spectators who quickly filled the grid. This truly is a highlight of the season and it was lovely to see so many enthusiastic fans queuing up to have a seat in the various cars. A fantastic opportunity for the general public to get so close immediately before the race which I’m sure is rarely mirrored with other series and other events.

With the fans safely ushered back to the spectator enclosure and the grid cleared it was apparent that the distinctive blue 355 Challenge of Chris Compton-Goddard had also been removed back to the pitlane, unfortunately Chris was feeling a bit under the weather so sensibly chose to sit out this race in the hope that he would be feeling better for Race 2 later on. As the red lights went out Tris Simpson sprinted away to repeat his Qualifying performance with a lights to flag victory. Colin Sowter settled into 2nd position with Gary Culver in 3rd and Tim Mogridge 4th. Wayne Marrs made a poor start and dropped to 5th place but maintained a comfortable gap ahead of Vance Kearney in 6th. The order remained pretty much the same throughout the field until the end of lap 11 when Charlie Ugo retired the family 328 GTB to the pitlane with a misfire. Unfortunately this would be the last we would see of the car as it was withdrawn from Race 2. Recovering from his poor start Wayne Marrs had latched onto the battle for third place between Culver and Mogridge, making his way past Culver on lap 13. At this point in the race Sowter had also begun to fall back which changed the battle for third into a bigger battle for second, Mogridge initially heading this group with a move on Sowter on lap 16, with Marrs following through a lap later before beginning to plan how to he was to get past Mogridge for the runner up spot. Following 6 laps of observation Marrs pounced on the final tour to claim 2nd position as the cars approached the chequered flag, Mogridge crossing the line in 3rd place ahead of Sowter and Culver. Further back Kearney held onto 6th place ahead of Group 3 winner Chris Butler who had enjoyed a race long battle with Lewis Sharman, his 348 Challenge being last of the cars to remain on the lead lap around the short 1.2 miles of the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

RACE 2

With only 2 races scheduled in the compact 1-day format, the grid for Race 2 would be determined by the finishing order of Race 1, so Tris Simpson would line up ahead of Wayne Marrs at the front of the field. Following a lay down and an ice cream Chris Compton-Goddard was feeling better so lined up in 14th position ahead of the Fisk family Mondiale QV, which had been demoted to the back of the grid due to a driver change, Father Pete now taking back the reigns. Race 2 initially looked to be a repeat of Race 1 with Marrs making another poor start and dropping to fourth before making his way back through to catch dominant leader Simpson and everyone behind settling down to their respective battles. The status quo was maintained until suddenly on lap 8 going into Graham Bell bend, Simpson appeared to slow. This caught out the chasing Marrs who spun his 355 Challenge in avoidance, rejoining in 7th place behind Chris Butler before setting about regaining the lost positions. It was clear that Simpson had a problem with the usually bullet proof 355 Challenge as within 3 laps he had fallen back behind Sowter, Mogridge and Culver. 2 laps later Kearney and the recovering Marrs also made it past the erstwhile race leader. Further back following an initial good start Chris Compton-Goddard’s day came to premature end when the 355 Challenge retired to the pitlane at the end of lap 10 with a suspected failed alternator. Having taken over the race lead following the demise of Simpson, Sowter was having to defend from Mogridge and Culver. The lead changed on lap 14 when Mogridge got through, followed by the pursuing Culver, demoting Sowter to 3rd. The podium would remain unchanged as the chequered flag flew at the end of 22 laps. Behind them Marrs had made his way back up to 4th position ahead of Kearney while Simpson hung on for a valiant 6th place with what turned out to be only 4th gear available. Chris Butler won Group 3 and also picked up the Superformance Scrutineer’s Merit Award in 7th place for his well-presented car whilst fulfilling the role of Mechanic, Engineer, Team Manager and even Driver. Jago Keen would again be victorious in Group 2 finishing in a respectable 10th place overall. Tim Mogridge attracted the attention of the Commentators who awarded him with the RNR Performance Cars Driver of the Day trophy at the end of day podium prizegiving ceremony as hundreds of Italian road cars filled the circuit for the traditional event closing track parade.