In a race that was run beneath clear skies on a dry track, the entertainment factor was high. DeMegni spun off on the warm-up lap and ended up having to start from last place, behind Edi Gay. The rolling start went off okay and saw Tirella impose himself immediately on Cattori. Vergani made good ground and installed himself in third, tucked in behind the Swiss driver. The pack, led by Cerrai, snaked after the leaders. 

On the first lap, Tirella moved into top spot ahead of Cattori, Vergani, Cerrai, Vescovi, Rota, Colombo and Smurra. The oil on the track at the Estoril curve was causing some problems; Tirella, Cattori and Cerrai managed to go by unharmed but Vescovi, Rota, and many others, spun.Vescovi was particularly unlucky as his engine cut out. The man from Pistoia managed to get it started again though. 

The leading three battled it out for the podium places with Vergani passing Cattori. Owing to the confusion at Estoril, Cerrai now had a group on his tail headed by Colombo and including Smurra, the Gedol/Coldani pairing, Thurn Und Taxis, Rota, Panacci and Michael Orts. Thurn Und Taxis overtook Gedol/Coldani while up front the battle was raging between Tirella and Cattori. The two were often side by side, flooring the accelerator and braking at the last possible moment. The gap between the two - of less than a second – increased when Tirella coped better with overtaking the back markers. On the fifth lap, the Barcelona winner led Cattori by 1”118, Cerrai by 4”667, Colombo by 6”101, Smurra by 10”6 and Thurn Und Taxis by 16”4. 

Colombo, in the meantime, pressed on in the hope of catching Cerrai and thanks to a lap of 1’56”125 he was able to go past the Roman. Tirella and Cattori too seemed poised to make the decisive moves, but Cattori had trouble in overtaking Manuzzi and fell 2”526 back.On the eighth lap, while the obligatory driver changes and stops were beginning, Tirella was in the lead ahead of Cattori, Colombo, Cerrai, Smurra, Vergani, Rota, Panacci and Thurn Und Taxis. Cattori slipped from second to fourth, behind Cerrai, who seemed intent on capturing second place for himself. Tirella was seeking to stretch his lead, but without much success. 

On lap ten, the first four enjoyed a gap of 15”6 over Smurra in fighting for top spot. Rota, in the pack, was making a fine comeback after his earlier spin at Estoril. The Bergamo driver passed Vergani and moved into sixth place, though some way down on Smurra. Tirella, having driven superbly, on the twelfth lap was beginning to have some problems with the control unit of his car and fell to fourth spot. While Notter was spinning off at the revamped Chateau d’Eau, Cerrai was attacking, and passing, Colombo. In trying to lengthen his advantage though, Cerrai turned into the Liceo curve a touch late and had to negotiate it side by side with Colombo. Neither of the two seemed willing to give ground until the chicane narrowed and Cerrai seized his chance and closed out Colombo to hold his lead. 
 
The overtaking was incessant, especially after the first round of stops, and created some difficulties for the leaders. Cerrai, though, did not appear to be fazed and controlled the race well. The organisers, in the meantime, hit Pfannschmidt, Vescovi and D’Ambrosio with a drive-through for having accelerated before the white line when leaving the pit lane. Tirella pulled over on the fourteenth lap for his regulatory stop. Alessi, who had taken over from Gay, set the fastest lap of 1’55”117 on lap 11. Up front, the struggle for first between Colombo and Cerrai went on. It become red-hot when Colombo went into the Roman at the 180° forcing Cerrai into a mistake which cost him first place. Maybe put off by this, Cerrai also fluffed the entry to Estoril and ended up, temporarily, in the gravel. The Gedol/Coldani pair was not so fortunate and were forced into the pits with a damaged car. 

Colombo made his stop on the seventeenth lap, one ahead of his rival Cerrai. Colombo, second in Barcelona, suffered a ten-second stop&go penalty after the commission deemed his overtaking move on Cerrai to be dangerous. 
  
Leaving the pits, Colombo failed to adhere to the white line rule and was automatically given a drive-through penalty. Colombo, though, probably didn’t realise he had been hit with the penalty and drove on to lead the race in front of Tirella, Cerrai, Smurra, Rota, Panacci and Thurn Und Taxis. The Swiss drivers, Cattori and Tirella, ploughed on with difficulty. Cattori, in negotiating the tight Adelaide curve, stopped dead in the middle of the track (he was able to get going again). Tirella, on the other hand, still had problems with the control unit of his car and fell further back to sixth on lap 19. Rota too, in fourth, was suffering brake problems and at Adelaide he slipped back a few positions after braking late. This was really hard on the driver from Bergamo who could otherwise have closed on Smurra, indecisive in overtaking Vescovi. 

On the twenty-third lap, Colombo, still having failed to make his penalty stop, headed the race with an advantage of 52”3 over Cerrai, 53”2 over Smurra, 1’18”1 over Thurn Und Taxis, 1’18”8 over Tirella and 1’28”8 over Rota. Cerrai was being hounded by Smurra who overtook him cleanly.Rota, dogged by brake problems, slid further down the field into eighth having been passed by Pannaci and Mountain. Panacci though, braked too late going into Adelaide and went off the track. In trying to make his way back, he stalled, his race over. On lap 25, this seemed the last of a series of surprises of what had been a rollercoaster race. The 50 minutes’ endurance was up. The chequered flag was taken by Colombo, followed in by Smurra, Cerrai, Thurn Und Taxis, Tirella and Mountain. As ever, the excitement was far from over: before the podium positions could be taken, the organisers decided to disqualify Vittorio Colombo. An emotional Emanuele Smurra it was then who was awarded the race; his first career win. Cerrai and Thurn Und Taxis shared the podium. Tirella maintained top spot overall, now only two points up on Cerrai and Smurra. 

The Maserati Trofeo returns to the track on 25 May at Nürburgring, in Germany. 

The Magny-Cours circuit in France was the scene of high thrills during the Trofeo Vodafone Maserati qualifying session run. Pole position went to Vincenzo Tirella, the winner in Barcelona, in a time of 2"06"580, who came in ahead of the debutant Cattori. An all-Swiss front row then which promises much for the endurance race. 

The free sessions were run in a deluge; conditions were so bad that the organisers had to wave the red flag a few minutes from the end. Qualifying itself took place under overcast skies, but the rain had ceased. The spectacle on the track was unrelenting: the time separating pole position from Cattori in second was only 96 thousandths of a second. 

Following the two Swiss drivers came eleven others grouped not more than three seconds back. Alberto Cerrai, after the third spot of Barcelona, assured third on the starting grid, 1"561 down on Tirella. In fourth behind the Roman came Alberto Vescovi, hindered during the latter stages by problems with his car. 

Fifth went to Alberto Vergani, two seconds back, with Sergio Rota, from Bergamo, coming next. In seventh was Renato Luglio while the pairing of Wilson/Mountain, conquerors of pole in Barcelona, had to be content with eighth here. 

Vittorio Colombo and Mauro Barisone both suffered some difficulties. Second and fourth, respectively, in Spain, they were only twelfth and twenty-third in qualifying today. Alessandro Romeo gritted his teeth and got back in the cockpit to claim nineteenth spot after a spectacular accident in the morning session. 

Punished by the race organisers, Gay/Alessi would start last after it was decided that they had not respected a black flag exposed for cutting the Liceo chicane.