03.02.2004 MASERATI OPENED A NEW CHAPTER WHEN THE TROFEO LIGHT TOOK TO THE TRACK AT DAYTONA

On Saturday afternoon when the green flag dropped to signal the start of the 42nd Daytona 24 Hours, a new chapter was opened in Maserati's glorious racing history as the two Trofeo Light racers crossed the line, heralding the marque's return to competitive racing.

One has to go back to 1957 to find the last Maserati-supported sportscar program, with the famous 450S. Powered by a 4.5-litre V8 engine, Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss gave the 400bhp monster its debut in the Argentinian 1000kms. Mechanical failure ended its challenge, but the next year, with Jean Behra joining Fangio, the 450S swept aside the opposition on their way to victory in the prestigious Sebring 12 Hours.

The Maserati Trofeo Light is a GT class sportscar based on the Trofeo GT, a racer built last year for a European race series featuring identical cars, which signalled the marque's long awaited return to the tracks. The Trofeo GT was itself drawn from the road going Coupe Cambiocorsa.

The Light program evolved late last year and the two new cars, run by Scuderia Ferrari of Washington and Risi Competizione respectively, had barely turned a wheel before they made their competitive debut it one of the most gruelling of marathons, the legendary Daytona 24 Hours.

The Trofeo Light immediately demonstrated its potential as the Scuderia Ferrari of Washington car led the GT class during the first hour and was consistently among the top three GT cars for the first six hours race. The team were eventually forced out of the race after a number of problems.

However Anthony Lazzaro, Ralf Kelleners and Matteo Bobbi brought the Risi car to the chequered flag after overcoming problems themselves and surviving a rain soaked, drama packed epic race.

Now Maserati are stepping up a massive gear with their new all-out sportscar, codenamed MCC, which has taken to the track at Fiorano again today as its development program gathers pace. Due to be unveiled at next month's Geneva Motor Show, the MCC will target overall wins in the FIA GT Championship and GTS class victory at Le Mans and in the ALMS series, when it enters competition later this year.