Scuderia Playteam Sarafree had plenty of reason to be pleased as despite a number of planned and unplanned drive-through penalties, both cars finished in the points at Silverstone during the second round of the 2007 FIA GT Championship on Sunday - in fifth place came Andrea Bertolini and Andrea Piccini while in eighth place were Alessandro Pier Guidi and Giambattista Giannoccaro.

At the start of the two hour-long race, the two Maserati MC12 were ranked side by side on the grid, Bertolini/Piccini starting from 5th (in the nr 11 car), and Giannoccaro/Pier Alessandro Pier Guidi starting from 6th (in the nr 12). The 30 second penalty inherited from the Chinese round in Zuhai was completed on the very first lap. Andrea Bertolini came back out in 24th position. The driver change with Andrea Piccini was completed on lap 25 and again on lap 49. The race was strong for both drivers and they managed to climb back up in the classification and finish in a brilliant 5th place.

Andrea Bertolini said: "It was a great race. I drove without making any mistakes and I pushed constantly. After the Chinese drive through penalty was served I rejoined in 24th place. Between the fantastic job done by the engineers and the staff from Maserati throughout the race as well as the Pirelli tyres that worked well all along during the race I am proud of this result that brings us our first four points of the season. It is a good boost ahead of the Bucharest race where no one knows what to expect on a track that will be new to all."

Andrea Piccini confirms: "Four points is a good result and we did a good job even though we could have done better if we did not have to suffer from penalties. When I took over from Andrea Bertolini the car was not easy to drive. I still had the old tyres and had lot of fuel on board to begin with. Also I practically lost 10 to 12 seconds to avoid an accident ahead of me and I had to run wide. In the end, I was happy that I made no mistakes.
 

"We did the most we could given the circumstances and drove at the absolute limit all afternoon. We had a car for the podium today, it's just too bad that the new regulations on the air restrictors imposed by the FIA has hindered us so much in comparison to our competitors and I had a hard time overtaking. On to the next race in Bucharest we're definitely going for the podium."

Alessandro Pier Guidi had a clean start in the Maserati MC12 nr 12: "I gained three positions at the start of the race as I was on the clean side of the track and immediately found a good pace that brought me up to the fifth place. Then I was cruising and I was holding fourth. I was still in fourth when I came in for the first change of drivers. The three leaders had already managed to build a gap from the rest of the field and it was going to be a tough call to catch back up. In any case, I am so pleased to have managed to score our first point of season. This is really a good day."

Later, in the second half of the race, a drive through penalty was given to the Maserati MC12 nr 12 as the stewards noticed the car speeding in the pitlane. "Unfortunately we bumped into traffic and overall we lost 48 seconds overcoming that unforseen penalty," said Giambattista Giannoccaro. "I came in on the 23rd lap to take over from Alessandro. We had used the warm-up session to do a final check on the tyres and we were satisfied. The Pirelli tyres worked well once they were stabilised and we had a good race without incidents. We are ready for another good result in Bucharest."