There was plenty of excitement and anticipation on Saturday 15 February 2014 at the first Ferrari Festival at the FNB Stadium in Soweto. Check out our Ferrari Festival Gallery here.
Crowds gathered to watch Marc Gene drive the Ferrari F60 around a 1.4km track around the FNB Stadium precinct. At some places the car screamed by just meters away from the spectators. Everyone present got a feel for what Formula 1 is all about. They got to hear the scream of the Ferrari 056 V8 engine at 18 000 rpm and also got to see pit stops carried out by the F1 Clienti Crew. There were a few race starts and some donuts thrown in by Gene for good measure.
We hope that this will be the first of many Ferrari Festivals in South Africa. The crowds gave the entire Ferrari crew a very warm welcome and it seemed like they enjoyed their time here. We sincerely hope that they do return, perhaps with Fernando or Kimi.
“That was a great day,” said Gene to ferrari.com “It’s always fun to bring a Formula 1 car up close to the people, which is something that never happens at a Grand Prix. I am pleased to have been able to do this for the South African people, especially the youngest ones, to show them the excitement of these types of car that haven’t been seen in this country for a while.”
Before leaving the stadium Gene visited the FNB Stadium(the name was changed to FNB Stadium after the world cup) where his fellow countrymen beat Holland in the 2010 World Cup Final. Jaques Grobbelaar, the President of the FNB Stadium, gave Gene a photo of the game as a piece of memorabilia.
Photo Credits
Title photo: Scuderia Ferrari F1
Article Phote: Scuderia Ferrari F1
