The first round of the 2006 Sara Italian GT Championship took place last Sunday (26th of March) at the Italian race track "Enzo e Dino Ferrari" in Imola. Two Maserati MC12 sportscars are taking part in the series this year, one carrying the colours of Scuderia Playteam Sara Free and the other entered by Racing Box. The crew of the first car comprises of Gianbattista Giannoccaro and Toni Vilander, while the second MC12 is being pedalled by Luca Cappellari and Miguel Ramos.

The two MC12s immediately got their season off to a bright start season during Saturday's qualifying session. Giannoccaro took pole position for race two and was flanked by the similar Racing Box car with Luca Cappellari at the wheel. Qualifying for race one witnessed Andrea Montermini in the DR Sport Saleen S7-R topping the timesheets with a lap of 1:46.251, with Toni Vilander's MC12 1:46.745 (at an average of 167.243 km/h) and Miguel Ramos' MC12 in 1:47.255 (at an average of 166.448 km/h) grabbing second and third slots, respectively. It was to be an all-Maserati front row in race however with Gianbattista Giannoccaro's Playteam Sara Free MC12 taking pole in 1:50.559 (161.473 km/h). Lining up next to him was Luca Cappellari's Racing Box MC12 1:51.059 (160.804 km/h).

Race day last Sunday saw the Trident brand starting its season off with a victory for the MC12 sportscar as Giannoccaro and Vilander achieved victory in race one.
 

The pair finished the race in front of the Loris Kessel and Andrea Chiesa-driven Ferrari 575 GTC and the GT2 class winning Ferrari F430 of Denny Zardo and Alex Caffi.  Starting from the front row having set the second-best time in qualifying, Vilander dominated the first part of the race, leaving Giannoccaro to carefully drive the MC12 to its first win of the season in the second half half of the race.

With pole position in the second qualifying session, Giannoccato started right at the front for the second race. Lap by lap, he was faster than the chasing Ferrari 575 GTC driven by Kessel. Following the mandatory driver change carried out at the end of the 14th lap, Vilander took the wheel of Playteam Maserati MC12, but after just four laps he entered the pits with a transmission problem and was unable finish the race. Kessel went on to win the race ahead of the GT2 class winning Ferrari F430 of Zardo and Caffi.

The next round of Sara Italian GT Championship, the second of eight races on the 2006 calendar, is due to be contested on 14th May at the Misano Adriatico circuit.