The Maserati MC12 entered by the Racing Box team, won a surprise victory in the highly prestigious 6 Hours of Vallelunga, held on Saturday. In the Maserati's driving seat were Davide Mastracci, Leonardo Maddalena and Michele Serafini.

The entry list for Saturday's 'Gold Cup' six-hour long race, restricted to GT class sportscars and prototypes, was topped by the clear favourite for outright honours - the factory-run Lister Storm LMP1 Hybrid, a direct evolution of the successful LMP900, which was aiming to repeating its overall victory of last year. At the wheel was Stefano Zonca, who last year won the 'Silver Cup' race for touring cars in a BMW M3 E46, and who this year, would be sharing the driving seat with Andrea Belicchi. A gaggle of smaller prototypes from Luccini, Centenari, Tampolli, Lucchini, Picchio and Norma, would all serve to add spice, while the biggest threat to the prototype cars for overall honours would be from the two Racing Box entries in GT1, the Maserati MC12 - fresh from a successful Italian GT Championship season - and the venerable Chrysler Viper, being shared on this occasion by Andrea Ceccato, Gabriele Sabatini and Marco Spinelli. The remaining entries included several Porsche GT3 Cups and Ferraris, including both the 360 Modena and F40.
 

At the Roman circuit during the Friday qualifying session, the MC12 proved to be quicker of the two GT1 entries, the Trident machine taking third place on the grid overall with a best lap time of 1:32.524. Outright pole went to the Lister Storm with a lap 1:27.529, a time well out of reach of the other competitiors, while the outside of the front row was claimed by the CN4 class Centenari MAC3, shared by Filippo Vita, Diego Borghese and Luigi De Luca (1:32.233).

The Racing Box MC12 did lead the field during the early stages of the race, but the LMP1 Lister Storm was able to make full use of its power and aerodynamic advantage to build up a lead of over four laps going into the sixth and final hour. However huge dramas for the English prototype with just half an hour to go saw it withdrawn, meaning that Mastracci, Maddalena and Serafini in the MC12 was able to cruise to the chequered flag after 220 laps of racing on the challenging 4.085km long circuit, and claim an excellent - if unexpected - victory, 15 laps ahead ahead of Zonca and Belicchi in the stricken Lister Storm. The GT1 Chrysler Viper, shared by Ceccato, Sabatin and Spinelli came home third - after suffering a number of extra pitstops - to claim the final podium position, also 15 laps adrift of the MC12.

Winning the 6 Hours of Vallelunga is yet another great result in a long-distance endurance race for the Maserati MC12, following on from the one-two finish at the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa, and the fine showing it put in at the ALMS series Mobil 12 Hours of Sebring. It is another win to add to the positive outcome in the FIA GT Championship, where winning performances have allowed the Trident brand to claim the Constructors' Cup.