03.05.2004 The Maserati Trofeo Light continues to evolve into a race winnER as it IS VICTORIOUS again in GT2 as the Italian GT series moves onto Magione

The Maserati Trofeo Light continues to evolve into a race winner, as the Trofeo-derived sportscar took a 1-2 GT2 class victory on Sunday in round three of the Italian GT Championship in Magione.

Qualifying, in warm and sunny conditions, saw Angelo Lancelotti plant the Lister Italy Storm on GT pole position for race one with a blistering lap of 1:10.238 which no one else was able to come within a second of.

He was followed by four Chrysler Vipers piloted by Marco Cioci, Davide Mastracci, Gabriele Matteuzzi and 'Base Up', before Andrea Chiesa led out the N-GT runners in his Ferrari 360 Modena.

Domenico Guagliardo qualified the JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello way down on the sixth row, while Bruno Corradi was the fastest of the Maserati Trofeo Light runners two rows further back.

Race one saw both the JMB Racing Ferrari 550 Maranello and Lancelotti's Lister Storm fall by the wayside as Matteuzzi led home team mate Cioci's similar Chrysler Viper GTS-R to give the Racing Box Megadrive team a 1-2 victory overall.

However in the Coppa Italia GT2 class the Maserati Trofeo Light, which is rapidly becoming a Porsche-beater, took a strong 1-2 class victory as Bruno Corradi and Giorgio Cipolli, who also finished in 11th place overall, led home the Jolly Club example of Raffaele Raimondi and Gianni Gudici by a margin of 53 seconds.

Race two saw JMB Racing bounce back at the front as Dominico Guagliardo and Lorenzo Case held at bay the Mastracci/Bonaldi Chrysler Viper to win by just three and a half seconds.

In GT2 the Maserati runners could not repeat the success of race one, the winning Autorlando Porsche 911GT3-RS of Giovanni Sada and Mario Sala fending off the Trofeo Light of Corradi and Cipolli to win by just 1.4 seconds. Massimo Piacentini and Guiseppe Strano claimed the final podium slot for Maserati, while Gudici and Raimondi, next across the line, rounded out a 2-3-4 finish for the resurgent Italian sportscar marque.

In the championship, Porsche pilots Sada and Sala now lead the GT2 class with 53.5 points after three events, while Cipolli and Corrado have moved up to second place with 38.5 points. Just behind them Guidici and Raimondi are on 36 points.