FIA GT Bucharest - Maserati MC12 in third and fourth position in Race 1

The two days of races assigned to the second edition of Bucharest City Challenge, which counts as the sixth round of the FIA GT Championship, opened tonight with the first of the two scheduled one-hour races. The two Vitaphone Racing Team's Maserati MC12s, who are leaders in the drivers' and car makers' classifications, were hard to miss. The Andrea Bertolini/Michael Bartels pair got third place, while the second car, driven by Miguel Ramos and Alexander Negraõ ranked fourth. Along the three kilometers of city circuit that goes around the imposing building that houses the Romanian Parliament, Bertolini and Bartels, who started off with the second best time during the practices despite the 105 kg of ballast imposed on them after their victory at Spa Francorchamps, obtained a convincing third place, 23" from winner Deletraz after a well-conducted, fair race. The second Maserati also did quite well: from fifth place Negraõ managed to pass Kumpen at the 21st lap. Tomorrow the second race will start at 1.15 pm.

Andrea Bertolini: "We started off quite well, even if, as expected, the two Corvettes left me behind due to the ballast our MC12 was carrying. Midway through my practice turn I slowed down a bit because the brakes were beginning to show strain. I called the pit stop to let them know I would be slowing down to hand the car over to Bartels with the good pedal. Then Michael finished the race as best he could."