Maserati and Vitaphone – Double Champions again!
MC12 dominates FIA GT Championship

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We are the Champions! If ever a racing team deserved a theme song, then the Vitaphone Racing team could lay claim to the Queen anthem. Racing the mighty Maserati MC12, Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels have secured the 2008 FIA GT Championship Drivers’ title at the final event of the season, one race after claiming the Teams’ Championship.

The key to this year’s success has been consistency – Bertolini and Bartels scored points in all ten races, including a third place and two second places. A win in the penultimate event, at Zolder in Belgium, made them strong favorites to take the title – but the foundations were laid back in August, when the duo picked up a massive 20 points in the 24 Hours of Spa, the highlight of the season. Heading into the final race in Argentina, a top-six finish was all they needed to regain the title they had previously taken in 2006.

The team decided to take a cautious approach to the final race, aware that if they were to crash out, it would hand the advantage to their rivals; the circuit was lined with barriers waiting to punish any mistakes. Bartels and Bertolini were carrying some 185 lbs in ballast after their victory in Belgium – the only consolation was that the Corvette of their only rivals for the title was carrying almost 200 lbs. Despite the weight, Bartels and Bertolini qualified fourth, one place behind their Vitaphone team-mates Miguel Ramos and Alexandre Negrão.

Once the race got under way they concentrated on keeping out of trouble, settling into a fast, consistent rhythm which ensured they stayed well up the order. After a nerve-wracking two-hour race, they came home secure in fifth position – the title was theirs! – beating their Corvette-wielding competitors by four points. Ramos and Negrão, although they failed to finish in Argentina, took third place in the Championship.

The MC12 has been utterly dominant in the FIA GT Championship; in four seasons it has picked up nine titles out of a possible eleven. Maserati drivers have now won the Drivers’ title for three years in succession – Bartels and Bertolini were victorious in 2006, and Thomas Biagi took the crown in 2007. And Vitaphone Racing have been Teams’ Champions every year since 2005, an unprecedented achievement in the ten-year history of the series. Over that time the Maserati has proven itself on all kinds of track, from street circuits such as Bucharest to the mighty Spa-Francorchamps Grand Prix track. Maserati and racing have always been closely linked, and the MC12 has proven itself more than worthy of carrying the famous Trident symbol into battle.