Vitaphone Racing's entry in this year's series was confirmed during this week's FIA GT Championship Media Days at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit where reigning FIA GT drivers' champions Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels put the #1 MC12 through its paces.

The Maserati MC12 will roar back in action in the FIA GT Championship for another season's racing with Vitaphone Racing set to defend its FIA GT Championship drivers' and teams' titles with the fearsome V12 engined machine. The team's entry in this year's series was confirmed during this week's FIA GT Championship Media Days at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit where reigning FIA GT drivers' champions Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels put the familiar #1 black-and-turquoise machine through its paces.

This will be the sixth top level racing season for the Maserati MC12 in the FIA GT Championship where it has already achieved outstanding and unrivalled success. In 2004 Maserati Corse started racing again internationally, making its debut in the FIA GT Championship, joining the series for the final three races of the season after having spent most of the year, with the help of Ferrari, developing the racer specially for the GT1 class.

In the hands of the factory-supported AF Corse team, the MC12 made its racing debut at the Imola round where it finished in second and third place. The next and penultimate race of the FIA GT calendar at Oschersleben in Germany saw the MC12 taking its first win, in the hands of Andrea Bertolini and Mika Salo. It then went on to win the final race of the year at Zhuhai in China.

The MC12 over the last four full seasons of racing in the series has achieved astounding results and firmly stamped the Trident brand's name back into motor racing after a long absence. The car achieved three victories in the prestigious Spa 24 Hours (2005, 2006, and 2008, all with Vitaphone Racing Team) and no less than ten absolute titles: three FIA GT Drivers' Championships in 2006 (Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini), in 2007 (Thomas Biagi) and in 2008 (Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini); four FIA GT Teams' Championships in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 (again all going to the Vitaphone Racing Team); and two FIA GT Manufacturers' Cups in 2005 and 2007. While all the key titles came courtesy of the German-based Vitaphone Racing team, JMB Racing were the runners-up in the 2005 Teams' championship and last year won the FIA GT Citation Cup with Ben Aucott.