Ferrari Challenge Mugello: Rubbo wins 458 World Final battle

Rubbo had taken pole at the front of the grid made up of drivers across the North American, Asia Pacific, and Europe Challenges, with his pole time the fastest lap in this weekend's two qualifying sessions.

The pole slot gave him the advantage of the inside line through the first corner and he resisted the challenge of Berry, as he moved from third to second ahead of Naveen Rao.

Rao took back the position at mid-distance when he elbowed his way through on the inside of Turn 1, clipping the grass and pushing Berry back.

That handed Rubbo the incentive to canter into a strong lead which he never relented, but the battle for second took a late twist.

Berry had moved back to second at the three-quarter distance but was barged back into third by Rao on the exit of the final corner hairpin and the two banged wheels.

The move was deemed too hard, and Rao served a drive-through penalty on the final lap, with Berry taking second place behind Rubbo.

The penalty promoted European 458 champion Galip Atar, meaning the three regional champions made the World Final podium.

Scuderia Corsa driver Oscar Parades-Arroyo climbed from sixth to finish fourth, ahead of Paul Wong and Sky Chen and Sam Lok.

James Wong was eighth, some way clear of solo Ladies class driver Lisa Clark and Tamotsu Kondo.

Ferrari of Long Island driver Brian Kaminskey caused the race's only safety car after being pushed into the gravel at Turn 1, earning Min Xiao a drivethrough penalty that put him 14th out of the 15 classified cars.

The 458 class and its 18-car World Final took place because it is only the first season of the 488 car in Challenge, meaning the Ferrari 458 is allowed to race in what is deemed a transition year.