Although the Maserati MC12 is nearing the end of its racing life now it has just wrapped up the drivers’ title of this year’s FIA GT Championship during the final round of the season held at Zolder (above) at the end of last month.

The dream of Maserati racing enthusiasts' the world over is edging closer to reality as the fearsome MC12 sports car has finally been handed long-sought after homologation for the legendary Le Mans 24 Hours. Although the stunning Trident racing machine has swept up a massive haul of trophies in the FIA GT Championship over the past four seasons, it has been banned from competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours thanks to its carbon-fibre, rule-bending chassis. Now cleared by the ACO to run in the 2010 race, the Vitaphone Racing Team stepped closer to the reality as the officially earned invites to next year’s race were published this week.

When the V12 engined MC12 which, was loosely based around a flat-bottom evolution of Ferrari’s Enzo supercar, first hit the track in early 2003 it attracted much controversy from the moment it turned a wheel. Unlike most projects this GT1 car was a pure racer first which was then squeezed into a road-going dress for homologation purposes. Despite being forced to make bodywork dimension revisions and run a smaller rear wing the MC12 was immediately banned by the ACO and it has since spent its life plying its trade in the FIA GT Championship freely winning drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles with distain. The MC12 did also appear stateside in the American Le Mans Series for the 2005 season through a factory effort but it was forced to run with an additional weight penalty, wasn’t eligible to score points, and didn’t prove to be overly competitive.

Although the MC12 is nearing the end of its racing life now it has just wrapped up the drivers’ title of this year’s FIA GT Championship during the final round of the season held at Zolder at the end of last month to add to the teams’ title it had already secured, This pair of honours takes its trophy haul in the series from 2005 to today to an unrivalled twelve titles: two FIA GT Manufacturers' Cups in 2005 and 2007; four FIA GT Drivers' Championships in 2006 (Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini), in 2007 (Thomas Biagi), in 2008 and 2009 (Michael Bartels/Andrea Bertolini); five consecutive FIA GT Teams' Championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (Vitaphone Racing Team); one Citation Cup for gentlemen drivers' in 2007 (Ben Aucott) and three victories at the prestigious Spa 24 Hours (2005, 2006, and 2008).

Team Vitaphone boss Michael Bartels, who won the FIA GT drivers’ crown this year, is upbeat about a Le Mans challenge next year, saying at the end of last month: "We have been trying to go to Le Mans since 2005 and the Maserati board is very supportive of the idea of racing there. I would like to be there, but we have to see what we can put together." 

Six teams have now been given automatic entries to the GT1 class of the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hours. As well Vitaphone Racing Team (Maserati MC12) - 1st FIA GT 2009, the other five are: Corvette Racing (Corvette C6.R) - 1st Le Mans 24 Hours 2009; Luc Alphand Adventures (Corvette C6.R) - 2nd Le Mans 24 Hours 2009; Luc Alphand Adventures (Corvette C6.R) - 1st Le Mans Series 2009; JLOC (Lamborghini Murciélago R-GT) - 1st Asian Le Mans Series 2009; and PK Carsport (Corvette C6.R) - 2nd FIA GT 2009.