The brand-new Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 racer has made a stunning start to its racing life, the AF Corse machine collecting a hard fought second place in the GT4 European Cup in its first ever race this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Joining the GT4 Cup at Spa this weekend were a pair of the Maserati GranSport Trofeo racers, previously homologated into the GT4 class, and driven by Gianni Giudici (above), who qualified an excellent ninth in GT4 (25th overall in 2:49.861), and Andrea Perlini.

The brand-new Maserati GranTurismo MC GT4 racer has made a stunning start to its racing life, the AF Corse machine collecting a hard fought second place in the GT4 European Cup in its first ever race this weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Lorenzo Casé and Cédric Sbirrazuoli piloted the machine to sixth place in the second of the two races to wrap up a superb debut weekend for the latest Trident racer, the drivers describing the car as "competitive, well balanced, easy to drive and extremely fast in the curves."

After Thursday’s rain, the first GT4 qualifying session was held on Friday on a track that gradually dried out. Still, the dark clouds seemed to threaten a downpour at any minute. The fact that there were only two types of tyre available (slick or rain), together with the desire not to take any risks with the new car, meant that the Maserati drivers were more conservative than the other crews as they opted for wet weather tyres. However, the rain held off during the fifteen minute session, further penalising the efforts of the AF Corse duo. The GranTurismo MC could not improve on thirteenth place (which was 30th overall on the bumper grid as the inaugural Dutch Tango GT4 Cup cars were joining the GT4 European Cup runners on the track together for this weekend) with its best lap time of 2:56.796. This would be the position the new machine lined up in for the first race.

Also joining the GT4 Cup chase at Spa this weekend were a pair of the Maserati GranSport Trofeo racers, previously homologated into the GT4 class, and driven by Gianni Giudici, who qualified an excellent ninth (25th overall in 2:49.861), and Andrea Perlini twelfth (28th overall in 2:50.851), both these older and well sorted cars faring a little better that their newer sister.

In race one the AF Corse GranTurismo MC GT4 started out from thirteenth place with Sbirrazuoli taking the first stint at the wheel. Lap after lap, he increased the rhythm and gained positions that took him up to sixth place. On the twelfth lap, the young Monte Carlo-domiciled driver drove headed for the pits for a routine stop to switch drivers, giving up the wheel to Casé. The experienced Italian driver then executed a sequence of fast laps that enabled him to quickly close the gap to contenders in front of him and overtake a few of them to reach the fourth position. In an intense finale, Casé managed to arrive at the flag less than two seconds behind Michael Mallock (Aston Martin GT4) who, thanks also to the fact that the two leaders of the race departed the scene, was the first one to race under the checkered flag, just in front of the Italian driver.

"This first race has been very good. It was not so easy for my team mate to start, because he had a bad qualifying. We started on rain tyres," said Casé after race one. "In the last part of the session was dry and the position wasn't very good, but he pushed a lot and gave me the car in a good position in sixth. I pushed a lot. We didn't make any mistakes. After that, the car was very quick, with a good balance: easy to brake and easy to push. In front of me, in the last two laps, two BMWs went out from a small crash and gave me a two position boost. It's been very good and we're in a very good car. I'm very happy with this result in the first race.”

Cédric Also pleased with the car's debut was Sbirrazuoli who said: I'm very happy to bring the Maserati to its first GT4 race. It's the car's first race and I'm happy to get it to the podium and I want to thank everyone for this. It's my first time at Spa, so I had some problems at the beginning with the track, I only got one lap in for the free practice, so this morning's qualifying was a bit hard for me, but I improved on my lap times throughout the race and then Lorenzo came second at the end of the race, so I'm happy."

The two GranSport Trofeos from Team Giudici also achieved a good result in race one: Giudici collected seventh place while tenth place was claimed by Perlini.

After Fridays splendid podium spot, Saturday's race, which took place at 9:00AM due to the Total 24 Hours of Spa kicking off that afternoon, saw the new GranTurismo MC GT4 driven by Sbirrazuoli and Casé collect another excellent finish as it crossed the line in sixth place in GT4. The race was held under brooding skies but on a dry track although the rain started to come down towards the end. After losing a place at the start, Casé recovered to take two positions and hand over to Sbirrazuoli in sixth. The young driver from Monaco defended this place well in the second half of the race and was still in this spot when he crossed the finish line. In this eighth round of the series, the GranTurismo MC surprised everyone with its lap times that matched the best of the bunch.

This debut weekend’s results have confirmed the car’s enormous potential. "A new car that has caused us no problems whatsoever for the whole weekend," was the praise from the drivers. The GranTurismo MC GT4 showed it was reliable, handled well and was very well balanced. Things bode well for the future.