Maserati will start the defence of its FIA GT titles
this weekend (6-7 May 2006) when the 2006 GT
Championship kicks off with the RAC Tourist Trophy, a
three hour race at Silverstone in the UK, against one of
the toughest fields ever assembled in GT racing.
The GT Championship, the tenth in its present form, is
looking stronger and more varied than ever before, and
it is truly impossible to say who is likely to step up
to the top of the podium to accept the magnificent
Trophy, which will be awarded to the overall winners
after Sunday’s race.
In GT1, the level of cars and drivers has risen yet
again, and everyone is expecting the competition to be
tougher than ever. Vitaphone Maserati Racing Team, the
defending Champions, are back, with Bertolini and Davies
joining Bartels and Biagi behind the wheel of the
Maserati MC 12 cars, bearing numbers 1 and 2. In
pre-season testing at Dijon, they have already shown
themselves the team to beat, setting consistently the
fastest times.
They will face GLPK Carsport, the Belgian team which won
two races last year, and which has upgraded to the
latest Corvette C6 model. Two powerful Saleen S7 cars
will be aiming to get back to the top of the podium:
Zakspeed, from Germany, and Balfe Motorsport from the UK
have both entered the American car, and times in Dijon
and Paul Ricard showed their speed. B-Racing RS Line is
a new team with big ambitions for the Lamborghini
Murciélago. They will all face the biggest group in GT1,
the six Aston Martin DBR9 cars. Two of them will be on
Michelin tyres: Cirtek Motorsport and Phoenix Racing,
driven respectively by Bouchut/Brabham and Piccini /Deletraz.
On Dunlop, the two Race Alliance cars from Austria, for
Wendlinger/Peter and Lechner/Diefenbacher. And on
Pirelli, the Aston Martin Racing BMS cars, for Gollin/Babini
and Pescatori/Ramos.
In GT2, after two relatively quiet seasons, the fight is
back on in earnest! No less than 17 cars are due to
line up for this first round. The biggest group remains
the Porsches, entered by ARC Bratislava, Ebimotors, Race
Alliance, Renauer Motorsport, Team Felbermayr Proton and
Vonka. But they will be up against six new Ferrari 430
GT2 cars ; two for Italian team AF Corse, two for JMB
Racing of Monaco and two for Scuderia Ecosse. RJN
Motorsport will enter its Nissan 350Z, with British
single-seater star Darren Manning making his European
sportscar debut, while Team LNT, a close runner-up to
the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 GT2 in the first
British GT races, will enter its Panoz Esperante.
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Stability is a must for the Vitaphone Racing Team,
which has opted for evolution instead of revolution.
During extensive testing in the off-season, the
optimization of the Maserati MC 12 was successfully
continued, with a special focus being set on the
Pirelli tyres the Butzbach based team once again is
going to rely on, in the 2006 season. |
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Vitaphones Racing's
2006 driver line-up: Andrea Bertolini, Michael
Bartels (front), Thomas Biagi and Jamie Davies
(rear) with the Maserati MC12 at the recent FIA GT
Championship official
Dijon test session. |
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Maserati will start the defence of its FIA GT titles
this weekend (6-7 May 2006) when the 2006 GT
Championship kicks off with the RAC Tourist Trophy,
a three hour race at Silverstone in the UK, against
one of the toughest fields ever assembled in GT
racing. |
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|
For the 2006 season, the Vitaphone Maserati Racing Team will
be entering two Maserati MC 12s for Michael Bartels, Andrea
Bertolini, Thomas Biagi and Jamie Davies. This year,
Ferrari’s Formula One test driver Andrea Bertolini and
England’s Jamie Davies have been signed to team-up with the
team’s regulars, Michael Bartels and Thomas Biagi. Neither
new drivers are unfamiliar with the MC 12, as Bertolini was
involved in the development of the sports car’s racing
version – while Davies made his debut as Vitaphone Racing
team driver in the 2005 Spa-Francorchamps 24-Hour Race, as
team-mate of the 2003 FIA GT Champion, Thomas Biagi. One of
his biggest successes so far was winning the 2004 Le Mans
Endurance Series (LMES) title as an Audi driver.
Stability is a must for the Vitaphone Racing Team, which has
opted for evolution instead of revolution. During extensive
testing in the off-season, the optimization of the Maserati
MC 12 was successfully continued, with a special focus being
set on the Pirelli tyres the Butzbach based team once again
is going to rely on, in the 2006 season. “The Vitaphone
Racing Team delivered in fine style, in its first full
season with the Maserati MC 12,” says Maserati Motorsport
Director Claudio Berro. “While doing so, the team
consistently enhanced and refined the car. For 2006 we have
set ourselves the goal to match our previous successes. Yet,
the competition will be clearly stronger than in the past
two years.”
Rafael Calafell, Director of the Vitaphone Racing Team, is
confident: “We have succeeded in creating an extraordinary
package for the forthcoming season and will give our very
best to defend our title in the team ranking. Furthermore,
we have signed a top class driver line-up that has got what
it needs to also secure the Drivers’ Championship.”
Vitaphone Racing’s Managing Director, Matthias Quinger,
adds: “Vitaphone has been involved in motor racing for five
years – with the success increasing consistently. We
succeeded in improving our company’s publicity and are truly
happy with what we’ve achieved so far. Still, I hope that we
will be able to crown our 2006 involvement with the drivers’
title.”
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