FIA GT » Bertolini and Bartels win record third title

Has been a great and very competitive FIA GT season. A well deserved title to Bartels and Bertolini though. Their consistency has simply been stunning.

It's sad that this is likely to be the Maserati MC12's last season in the GT1 class. What a car!

Very sad indeed, this may be the last race for the MC12 (actually a rebodied Ferrari Enzo). A beautiful, elegant car. It has apparently been grandfathered in for next years series, but all that remains up in the air.

Vitaphone deserves their titles, even if their efforts were overkill relative to the other teams. Anyone who doubts how good the racing could be should look at the last 10 minutes at Algarve, at the www.fiagt.com site.

I won't be sorry to see the MC12 go... it was a car that was always given special dispensation to race (it doesn't and never has conformed to the FIA GT1 rules)... they only reduced the down force after extreme lobbying from other manufacturers... hopefully the new GT1 rules will prevent something similar happening again, at least until Ferrari want to build a GT1 car... everyone knows how much the FIA bends over for Ferrari (or Maserati)

Well, maybe not - Bartels plans to be in Abu Dhabi for the start of next season. Vitaphone started with a Saleen in 2004, and managed 3 wins. But they've been running MC12s for the last 5 years, and I can't see them or Maserati giving up a good thing. Very true, the base car is an overkill relative to a Corvette. But they run with extra weight, smaller restrictors and wings. Their greastest advantage maybe how quickly the drivers can get in and out during pitstops, and Vitaphone's substantial budget. Considering the sordid state of affairs in F1, and the uneven fields in the Le Mans series, this can be great racing. Again, see Algrave.