On a track considered demanding for the Modenese cars, battling performances saw the Maserati GranSport Light claim fifteenth place in race 1 and thirteenth place in race 2 as the FIA European GT3 Championship pitched up at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium for the third round of the inaugural series.

Race 1

The safety car was called for on three occasions and the red flag shown four minutes from the end in what was a tough race. The rain that had characterised the end of the qualifying session continued to fall on the 6,976 metre Belgian track. The tricky conditions made life difficult for the drivers and many of them ended up against the crash barriers.

The two Maserati crews had to defend on this track and so adopted a cautious strategy that, in the end, turned out to be the right option. The first phase of the race over, the GranSport Lights pulled into the pits so that the driver changes could be made. The stops were made on one of the three occasions the safety car appeared. Palma, who had replaced Sperati and Casé, Giudici's substitute, came back onto the track seventeen minutes from the end in fifteenth and twenty-seventh places respectively. Palma, and especially, Casé began climbing up the pack and soon the thirty-two year old driver of the number 78 car was up to sixteenth.

Tiff Needell escaped unhurt from a terrible crash at the Bus Stop but the incident forced the race director to show the red flag. This meant that the race order on the lap before the flag was shown would decide the final order.
 

At that point, Palma was in thirteenth place and Casé in sixteenth place. However, the classification was altered at the end as various cars were hit with penalties. These included Palma/Sperati, who had not spent the required 75 seconds in coming into the pits, changing drivers and leaving again, as the regulations state that they should. The two were thus relegated to twenty-fourth place. Casé/Giudici benefited from this change and moved up to fifteenth. The Dodge Viper crew of Bornhauser/Bouvy were declared winners of the race.

Race 2

Sunshine and a dry Spa-Francorchamps track allowed the drivers to forget the trying conditions in which the first GT3 race was run. After their good showing in wet conditions, the Trofeo GranSports also fared well in totally different conditions to finish in thirteenth with Palma/Sperati and nineteenth courtesy of Casé/Giudici. Forced to start from the back of the field (29th and 34, respectively), the two AF Corse cars completed a series of overtaking moves that saw Casé climb to eleventh and Palma hand over the car to Sperati when in twentieth.

Twenty minutes from the end, a terrible accident between Zonca's Viper and Adams' Ascari on the Kemmel straight resulted in the safety car being called for to remove the debris strewn across the track. Three minutes before the chequered flag was due to be shown, the safety car pulled into the pits to allow for an exciting last lap. The Maserati drivers gave their all and closed out in thirteenth (Palma/Sperati) and nineteenth (Giudici/Casé).

The Belgian weekend thus ends on an upbeat note as understandable pre-race concerns were dismissed. After the summer break, the FIA European GT3 series takes to the track at Digione, France, on 3 September for the penultimate round of the 5-race series. The final encounter will be at Mugello on 17th September.