FIA GT Triumph for Team Vitaphone’s Maserati at Silverstone

The 2006 FIA GT Championship could not have started better for Maserati. On the English circuit of Silverstone, the MC12 driven by Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini won the first race of the season and took the prestigious 'RAC Tourist Trophy'.

The Modenese car beat off the challenge of Bert-Janis's Saleen S7R and the Aston Martin DBR9 driven by Gollin-Babini. The other Maserati fielded by the Vitaphone Racing Team, also did well as Jamie Davies and Thomas Biagi steered it to fifth. At the end of three hours and 95 laps, Bartels-Bertolini's overall time was 3h00'40"717 at an average speed of 162 km/h; 4"735 faster than their competitors.


The race began in uncertain weather and with the asphalt difficult to read after the morning rain. This meant that the teams had to fit intermediate Pirelli tyres. Starting from second and fourth place on the grid, Bertolini and Davies attacked from the start and immediately gained two places. On lap three, Bertolini moved into second place while Davies, following a spin, slipped down to fifteenth spot. After half an hour of racing, Bertolini's MC12 took the lead and Davies climbed to third after an extraordinary comeback. The track began to dry out and, forty minutes in, Bertolini came into the pits to switch to slicks and refuel. Davies mirrored the move two laps later. This strategy, decided in an instant, proved to be a winning one. After their stops, Bertolini and Davies came back onto the track in 5th and 7th place. An hour into the event, Bertolini had climbed to third and, by setting the best lap times, closed in on Janis' Saleen and Piccini in the Aston Martin, first and second respectively. Davies, despite some visibility problems, held fourth place. During lap 35, Bertolini claimed top spot with his team mate Davies in third.

By the end of the second hour the driver changes had been made (between laps 51 and 53). With Michael Bartels and Thomas Biagi in the driving seats the two MC12s were second and fourth. The mandatory pit stops over, Bartels took the lead and steadily increased his advantage over his pursuer Janis (Saleen) to 60 seconds. The strategy at the beginning of the race proved to be extremely successful, eighteen minutes from the chequered flag, Bartels came in for his final fuel stop after an earlier tyre change. The lead he had built allowed him to come back onto the track in first place and cruise to the finish line.

Claudio Berro, Director of Maserati Corse, was extremely pleased: "It was a great win for team Vitaphone, obtained in a fantastic car, impeccable drivers and with a perfect strategy. The Pirelli intermediate tyres allowed us to take the lead on our adversaries in the early stages. The second MC12 also did well, even if it just missed out on the podium. Team Vitaphone has proved once more to be one of the contenders in this championship and we at Maserati are happy that they can use our cars."

Andrea Bertolini, the team Vitaphone and official Maserati Corse driver, thanked his team and his co-driver, Bartels: "We couldn't have done any better; in tough conditions the strategy is fundamental. The Pirelli intermediate tyres performed well. I did my best early on and Bartels was great in closing the race. Winning the first race of the season is satisfying, especially against such difficult opponents."


The next FIA GT championship race is on 28 May at the Brno circuit (Czech Republic).

TROFEO AUDEMARS PIGUET MASERATI EUROPE �" The English circuit of Silverstone hosted the second race of the Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati Europe Championship. On a wet and very slippery circuit, Diego Alessi led from start to finish. Behind him filed Alberto Cerrai and Britain’s Moz Fabris. The overall Trofeo classification sees Cerrai having extended his lead over Fabris (45 points to 36). Demegni finished fourth, gaining a position overall to move into third on 26 points. As Diego Alessi did not have his partner, Francesco Ravasio, alongside him, he did not score any championship points.

Autosport driver of the Year Oliver Jarvis, who currently races in British Formula 3, started from pole, having scored a tremendous time of 2’ 14” 602 under torrential rain. Diego Alessi’s experience and knowledge of the car helped him gain the lead soon after the start. On lap four the winner of the 2005 Trofeo Maserati Europe Alberto Cerrai swept past Jarvis into a second place he held until the finish. Following up the lead group were Moz Fabris, Andrea Demegni and Antonio Andolfato. A little further back Maserati fans could enjoy a duel between Philip Burgan, Simone De Martini and Niccolò Oddi for eighth place. This trio enlivened the early part of the race and often swapped positions. The mandatory pit stops took place between laps ten and fifteen. Following the stops, behind the distant Alessi and Cerrai came a group led by Andolfato, Giorgio Bartocci, Edd Straw (who had taken over from Jarvis at the wheel of Autosport’s car) and Niccolò Oddi, who had crept ahead of Burgan. More thrills came at the end of the race when Fabris overtook Demegni and then when supermodel Jodie Kidd ran off the track in the Maserati West Europe car on lap 17. Kidd had taken over in the driving seat from Frenchman Jean Coulomb. As it was impossible to remove her car from its position in the middle of the straight, race officials waved the red flag, interrupting proceedings.

Andruet-Hales, in the Audemars Piguet VIP car (11th) bettered Wood-Giordanelli (13th in the Toora car).

The next round of the Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati Europe will be held at Brno (Czech Republic) on 28 May.

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