The
Maserati Vitaphone team has won the seventh round of the
FIA GT World Championship with Bartels and Bertolini
bringing their Maserati MC12 across the line yesterday
to claim top spot on the podium in Portugal on the
Algarve coast."This is the weekend we were hoping for,” said Andrea
Bertolini. “We got a great overall performance from the
entire team: Maserati, engineers and team. I started out
well and I was able to keep our second position close to
Peter Dumbreck and could do no more than that. Then at
the pit stop the team performed a masterpiece and
Michael was able to remain at the lead until the end. It
is an important victory for the classification; the
championship is still up for grabs because our
adversaries are competitive, but today we met the goal
we set. We are overjoyed and confident about the end of
the season".
The
victory further extends Maserati Vitaphone’s lead in the
team Championship and Bartels and Bertolini’s bid for
the driver’s title, the driver’s enjoy a 27 point lead
and the team ahead by 43 points.
After the second place finish claimed on Saturday in the
Qualifying Race, Bartels and Bertolini yesterday won the
event's Championship Race thanks to a perfect racing
strategy and the outstanding work of the entire team.
Bertolini started off from first row in the grid and was able to maintain his
second position in close contact with Dumbreck and Krumm's Nissan GT-R no. 23,
building the foundation for a fast Vitaphone Racing Team pit stop. Good
work performed in the pits enabled Maserati the MC 12 no. 1 to reach top position.
Bartels, with a new set of tyes, was able to cruise along, keeping in check the
recovery attempts of Mutsch and Westbrook's Ford GT Matech no. 5 until the end.
While Maserati MC12 number one had a very successful
race, the same cannot be said for the number two car,
with its race ending at the first corner. Bernoldi was
unable to avoid crashing into Pastorelli and Schwager's
Lamborghini Murciélago no. 38, which had fishtailed
after going onto the artificial grass.
Triple H Team Hegersport's Maserati MC12 no. 33, driven
by Heger and Mueller went off the track on the second
lap and ended the race in ninth place. The performance
of Triple H Team Hegersport's second Maserati MC12,
driven by Pier Guidi and Mayr-Melnhof, was heavily
affected by a flat to the left back wheel in the race's
initial stages. Confirming Maserati's competitiveness,
Pier Guidi's fast laps after the pit stop got him the
best overall time of the day with 1:43.275. The next FIA
GT1 World Championship race will be on 24 October, in
Navarra, Spain.
