The Vitaphone Team has clinched the FIA GT Championship in style today with driver’s championship leaders Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels winning the penultimate round of the season at Zolder to take an unbeatable points lead.

The Maserati Vitaphone Team has clinched the 2008 FIA GT Championship in style today with driver’s championship leaders Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels winning the penultimate round of the season at Zolder in the Netherlands to take an unbeatable lead in the championship – its fourth consecutive in the FIA GT Championship.

“It was a team victory and solid proof that Bartels and I, when put under pressure, know how to react and give the best of ourselves, offering brilliant results,” said Andrea Bertolini at the finish. “The team worked all night to fix yesterday’s mishap, when the accelerator’s butterfly valve malfunctioned and caused us to go out of the track, damaging the car. They did a great job. Today my Maserati was very fast as well as unbeatable, I’d add. I tried to keep cool during the first part of the race, when a false move could have been our undoing. Then we started to eat up the laps and Bartels ended his stint in great advantage from Hezemans. This enabled us to do an extraordinarily quick driver-tire change and refuelling and to proceed to win the race.”

Roaring ahead at the start from fifth row, Bertolini quickly overtook Fassler. At the 32nd lap he also left Kumpen behind, and at the 66th, thanks to a masterly drivers’ switch and refueling in a mere 11 seconds, Hezemans was overtaken at the pit stop, the move that gave Maserati no. 1 the victory and the title. Great results for the other two Maseratis: Ramos and Negraõ, fresh from their recent success two weeks ago in France, got sixth place, and eight place for the debuting couple Matteo Bobbi and Pedro Lamy, driving car no.17 marked under the Vitasystem banner.

“Many people have asked me what is the secret of Maserati’s and my team’s four consecutive years of success,” explains Michael Bartels. “I think it is a matter of an extraordinary German and Italian blend of my group’s work and the technical and design excellence of the MC12. In these years, they have consistently remained at the top in such a competitive event such as the FIA GT. The job, however, is not over yet. Now we are headed toward Argentina try our hand at the Drivers’ Championship. We have our strategies to bring home the result we aim for.” With the team and manufacturers’ prizes now decided, the focus is on the drivers’ titles in the final round in Argentina.

Results: Zolder (Netherlands) – 9th Round FIA GT Championship: 1. Bertolini/Bartels (Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12) after 80 laps, average speed 159.18 km/h; 2. Hezemans/Gollin (Corvette Z06) +7”152; 3. Wendlinger/Sharp (Aston Martin DB9) +10”179; 4. Simonsen/Peter (Aston Martin DB9) +10”539; 5. Fassler/Deletraz (Corvette Z06) +21”230; 6. Ramos/Negraõ (Vitaphone Racing Team Maserati MC12) +45”047; 7. Franchi/Vosse (Saleen S7) +45”639; 8. Bobbi/Lamy (Vitaphne Racing Team Maserati MC12) +1 lap.