The on-track action of the third round of the FIA GT Championship gets underway at Adria in Italy today ahead of Saturday's 2 hour evening race with Maserati looking to push on with its title defence through the Vitaphone Team's MC12s.

Racing’s on at Adria, hosting the third round of the FIA GT Championship, along the 2,702 meters of the brief but spectacular circuit built in 1999. The innovative formula, already successfully tried out in 2007, envisages a two-hour evening race, which will take place on Saturday, 21 June at 7 pm, while the qualifying races are programmed as of Thursday, 19 June.

It’s the third year that the FIA GT Championship has a round in Adria, a circuit that marks important achievements for Maserati Corse, starting with the Biagi-Davies team winning of the race and Andrea Bertolini/Michael Bartels winning the driver’s title in 2006, then Bertolini-Piccini’s second place in 2007 (the first evening race), which enabled the Maserati to win the Manufacturers' Cup in 2007.

After two races, the Vitaphone Racing Team, with Bertolini and Bartels’s Maserati MC12 no. 1 and Negraõ and Ramos’s no. 2, are ranked at the top in the Manufacturer’s Cup, while Bertolini-Bartels are just 3 points shy of the Championship leaders Bouchut and Massen. Negraõ-Ramos are in third place, just 5 points short of the objective. This is why the two green MC12s will attack. The third Maserati completing the set running in Adria belongs to the JMB Racing team driven by gentlemen drivers Ben Aucott and Alain Ferté, who did well in the last race, just grazing the points level.

Andrea BERTOLINI (Vitaphone Racing Team - Maserati MC12); “I know that in theory a brief, tortuous circuit like the one in Adria favors our competitors more as they have larger exhaust flanges and less ballast on board, but I am very optimistic. I often explain that the Maserati MC12 can move around curves with unequalled elasticity, - due to this car’s excellent design - guaranteeing it a place in automotive history. In the first two rounds during the qualifying practices we did not make the right choices, although in race we performed well; at Adria and Oschersleben we’ve decided to trust Bartels to find the best time. I am sure this time around Adria will bring us luck. Our aim is clear: to get the first victory of 2008.”

Timetable ADRIA - 3rd Round, FIA GT Championship: Thursday June 19th: 18.00-19.00 free practice & pre-qualifying; Friday June 20th: 9.00-10.20 free practice; 11.55-13.15 pre-qualifying; 17.15-17.50 qualifying practice; Saturday 21st June: 11.40-12.10 Warm up; 19.50-21.50 race 2 hr.