FIA GT Bucharest City Challenge Preview: Bertolini-Bartels on the Romanian ‘City’ Track Aiming at Proceeding with their Triumphant March

Modena, 20 August 2008 –After the nth great feat undertaken by Maserati at the Spa 24 Hours of 3 August, with three MC12s classified in the first four positions and with the Vitaphone Racing Team’s third success in the Belgian classic, the Tridente is present in Romania in the top places in the drivers’ classification and first in the car makers’ classification.

As of Friday the contending GTs will be on the Bucharest track for the sixth round of the Championship, along the 3,115 meters of the city circuit that goes around the imposing Romanian Parliament, a symbol of the totalitarian architecture of the past. It will be the second chapter of the City Challenge, which this year renews its formula of a one-hour race on Saturday evening and a second one on Sunday afternoon.
The important thing for the Vitaphone Racing team is to consolidate its leadership which features the Bertolini-Bartels pair with a 13-point advantage over team-mates Ramos-Negraõ and 14.5 points over Gollin-Hezemans with the Corvette.

Andrea BERTOLINI (Vitaphone Racing Team - Maserati MC12 no. 1) – Championship leader
“I personally believe that Bucharest is a good circuit in which we won a tough race under the rain last year, but we were also ahead when the track was dry. This year’s race has us weighed down on the track with 105 kilos of ballast on board, assigned us after our Spa win, thus it won’t be easy along a slow track with constant restarts. The goal Bartels and I have is to fight for the podium position, to earn important points for the Championship and to get rid of a bit of added weight in view of the Brno race.”

Timetable Bucharest City Challenge- 6° round FIA GT Championship (GMT+2)
Friday: 15.00-16.20 Free Practices
Saturday: 8.45-10.05 Pre Qualifying; 13.15-13.50 Qualifying Practices; 18.15-19.15 RACE 1
Sunday: 10.00-10.30 Warm Up; 14.15-15.15 RACE 2

Maserati Corse Press Officer: Stefano Bergonzini GSM +39 335 351067
Photo: Maserati Corse/Studio Mazzi – photographer Mario Chiarappa

Other Informations:
www.media.maserati.com; www.maseraticorse.com