Maserati’s official test driver Andrea Bertolini last Sunday afternoon was awarded the Michele Alboreto prize which was instituted to commemorate the much-missed F1 Italian driver. The award was presented during the Monza round of the FIA GT Championship by the Le Mans Model Fan Club, a group that celebrated its tenth anniversary this year. During the Monza race, the fourth round of the 2007 FIA GT series Bertolini, along with his team mate Andrea Piccini, drove the Scuderia Playteam Maserati MC12 to eighth place overall and in the GT1 class, 1:46.347 behind the winning Aston Martin DBR9 of Wendlinger and Sharp.

The Michele Alboreto prize is assigned on a yearly basis to Italian personalities who have contributed most to the motoring world. This year the candidates considered were Flavio Briatore, Federica Ballestrieri, Davide Galbiati, Domenico Scola and Andrea Bertolini. The reason for Bertolini’s nomination was for "his extreme professionalism in Motorsport Internazionale and the unusual human touch that highlights his true champion’s performances."

The outright 2006 FIA GT Championship winner, with the German-based Vitaphone Racing outfit, stated: “It is a with a sense of pride that I receive an award that bears the name of Michele Alboreto. I think that the honour that the Le Mans Fan Club have bestowed on me is important and the words on the plaque moved me."

Born on 1st December 1973, Andrea Bertolini began racing in go-karts at the age of 11. He famously became the youngest-ever test driver for Ferrari when he was just 19, a role he has continued on and off almost to date. His sports car career got underway in earnest when he drove a Porsche 996 GT3-R in the FIA GT Championship in 2001.
 

The next year he raced a Ferrari 360 Modena for JMB Racing, an association he continued with into 2003. For 2004 he switch to GPC Squarda Corse, again with the 360 Modena, coming second overall in the N-GT class as well as winning the "Driver Performance of the Year". At the same time he spearheaded the development programme of the new Maserati MC12 sports car, and after a tail end of the season debut for the car he won the final FIA GT race of the year at Zuhai in China at the wheel of the exciting new GT1 class machine.

For 2005 he switched to JMB Racing to drive the MC12 in the FIA GT series, coming joint fourth in the championship with his team mate Karl Wendlinger. At the same time he jointed the factory MC12 programme in the American Le Mans Series (ALMS) but without any success. After JMB Racing dropped their MC12 programme at the end of 2005, for last year he switched to Vitaphone Racing, racing to the championship title.

After four rounds of the 2007 FIA GT Championship Bertolini lies in joint 12th place in the drivers' championship standings with his team mate Piccini. The pair have 15 points, including the maximum haul of 10 they gained for winning the inaugural round in Bucharest. They lie just six points of championship leader Thomas Biagi who has 21 points, and in a very tight table with all to play for, also ahead of them are four drivers who have 20 points, two who are on 19, and four on 18.