The Maserati GranTurismo MC climbs the podium

A magnificent debut on the track for the new Maserati GranTurismo MC, which, driven by the Lorenzo Casè / Cédric Sbirrazzuoli duo, obtained a convincing second place in race 1 held today in Spa.

After difficult qualifying practices due to the wrong choice of tires, AF Corse team's Maserati started out from thirteenth place with Sbirrazzuoli at the wheel. Lap after lap, he increased the rhythm and gained positions up to sixth place. At the twelfth lap, the young Monte Carlo driver drove into the pit stop to switch drivers, giving up the wheel to Lorenzo Casè. The experienced Italian driver then executed a sequence of fast laps that enabled him to quickly close the gap from contenders in front of him and overtake a few of them to reach the fourth position.
In an intense finale, Casè managed to arrive at less than two seconds behind Michael Mallock (Aston Martin GT4) who, thanks also to the fact that the two leaders of the race left the scene, was the first one to go under the checkered flag, just in front of the Italian driver.

The excellent potential of the newest Trident car, which the drivers described as "competitive, well balanced, easy to drive and extremely fast at the curves", is therefore confirmed at the racetrack.

The two Maserati Trofeos from Team Giudici also achieved a good result: Gianni Giudici got seventh place and tenth place was claimed by Andrea Perlini.

Race 2 of the GT4 European Cup, round 8 of the series, will start at 9:00 am tomorrow and will last 40 minutes.

Lorenzo Casè: "I inherited the car when it was in a good position after Cédric (editor's note: Sbirrazzuoli) had climbed up several places with respect to our starting position. I was able to take advantage of my experience during the qualifying practices in which, in my case, I was able to drive with slicks, so I immediately got a better feel of the car. I pushed it hard and the car allowed me to go at a good fast and constant pace that soon took me closer to my adversaries. When I reached the leading group, the two BMWs who were leading at the time collided, vacating two positions. Perhaps we could have won with the rhythm we were able to set toward the end if we had still had one or two laps to go. We are nevertheless very satisfied considering our starting position added to the fact that we were debuting".

Cédric Sbirrazzuoli: "I am happy with my first stint, it went quite well. I was able to improve my racing time lap after lap and to jump up from thirteenth to sixth place despite not having yet found a good feel for the racetrack".

Amato Ferrari: "We're very satisfied with the result because we didn't expect to end up in the podium so soon as it was the first time we were racing with this car. The GranTurismo MC has proven its excellent potential, and I think we'll have fun in the next races".