02.09.2004 Two Maserati MC12 sportscars will finally take to the track at Imola tomorrow: we take an in-depth look back at the eight month MC12 development programme

When the two AF Corse-run Maserati MC12 sportscars take to the track at Imola for the first time in anger tomorrow, a new and exciting chapter in the history of the famous Italian marque will begin to be written.

The story begins when the breathtaking new sportscar was publicly sighted for the first time back in January. On a bitterly cold and damp winter's morning, as it undertook a preliminary shakedown at Ferrari's private Fiorano test track, it offered a first glimpse into Maserati's promised new dawn.

Maserati is a name, along with the likes of Ferrari and Porsche, that is synonymous with on-track successes, the firm having won everything there was to win from the mid-1920's, until their final Formula One success in 1967.

Now thirty seven years later, the Maserati name returns, with a car that could well re-write the sportscar racing rulebook, the fabulous MC12.

In the eight months since the MC12 racer was first seen at Fiorano, it has travelled a long way, its highly aggressive, yet sleek, aerodynamic shape, finished in a brooding, dark paint scheme, now easily recognisable to racing enthusiasts worldwide.

Several multi-day tests at Fiorano embedded it into the public's consciousness, before on March 2nd, the car, which up to that point had been known only by the codename MCC, was revealed under the glare and bright lights of the 74th Geneva Salon.

Now finished in Maserati-blue and covered in two huge Trident decals, the racer was officially presented, joined for the first time by the road-going version, itself a stunning supercar to take the breath away.

It was announced that just 25 'Stradale' versions would be built, although due to huge demand a second production run, to be undertaken next year, was later added. Performance was outrageous: the 6.0-litre V12 engine, pumped out 630bhp, allowing it to rocket from 0-100km/h in just 3.9 seconds, and achieve a top speed of around 330km/h.

At the same time that the MC12 was making its 'World Premiere' at the Swiss show, the test programme shifted from the confines of Fiorano for the first time, moving onto the Italian Mugello circuit, with ex-Alfa Romeo touring car star Nicola Larini temporarily deputising for regular tester Andrea Bertolini who was in Geneva.

Since then an intensive summer development schedule has seen the car running at both Vallelunga and Monza, as well as at Pirelli's Vizzola test track, and finally at the high-tech Paul Ricard HTTT circuit in the south of France.

Maserati Reparto Corse's official test driver Bertolini was joined in June by ex-F1 driver Mika Salo, to assist the development programme, the Finn soon becoming the first confirmed driver for its proposed race debut.

During this period Michael Schumacher, who just last weekend was crowned with his seventh F1 World Driver's Championship, and Brazilian Scuderia Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello, have tested the MC12, while former Ferrari F1 star, the French triple World Champion Alain Prost, has also got behind the wheel of the V12-monster.

June also saw the MC12 'Stradale' turning its wheel in public for the first time, when no less a figure that newly-appointed Maserati CEO Martin Leach, blasted the blue and white painted car up the famous Goodwood Hill during the annual Festival of Speed.

The project received a setback in July when the FIA refused to homologate the car for GT racing, accepting voiced fears that this car could prove so superior to the opposition that it could repeat what the Mercedes-Benz GT1 project did in the mid-nineties, when it killed off the FIA GT Championship's predecessor.

However much behind-the-scenes wrangling saw a compromise accepted for the final four races of the FIA GT series, starting this weekend at Imola, with the car being allowed to race, not being accepted to score series points.

Last Monday saw the MC12 presented to the FIA for homologation, and with its driver line-up now confirmed: Johnny Herbert, Mika Salo, Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio De Simone, the jigsaw is finally completed and hype is almost over.

Tomorrow it will thrust itself into the highly competitive fray of the FIA GT Championship. The car that will throw Maserati back to 'big-time' racing after such a long absence will have to tackle tough competition.

The Prodrive-built, BMS Scuderia Italia-run, Ferrari 550 Maranellos are the series benchmark, having claimed the title last year, and have already put this year's into a position of almost a formality. Snapping hard on their heels are the 'official' N-Technology built Ferrari 575 GTC racers, which won at Donington Park in June, and pushed the BMS cars all the way during the Spa 24 Hours last month.

The fast, but hitherto fragile American-built Saleen S7-R, which now seems to have finally found race long reliability, is thus also contender for victory and not just pole anymore, while the new Lamborghini Murcielago R-GT, at last makes its series debut in the hands of crack French outfit, DAMS.

A baptism of fire at Imola awaits the most exciting sportscar for many a year, and over the coming weekend, the many unanswered questions will be answered.

by Edd Ellison