Maserati rounded off a superb campaign in the FIA GT Championship with its 11th podium of the season in Dubai, despite problems that saw the championship-winning car of Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini finish outside the top ten.
The rostrum instead went the way of the pair's team-mates Jamie Davies, Thomas Biagi and Vincent Vosse, at the end of three hours of racing that had seen the two Vitaphone Racing-run MC12s in the mix if not quite on the ultimate pace right from the word go.
Disputing the lead in the early stages with a gaggle of Aston Martins and the yellow GLPK-Carsport Corvette C6R, Davies and Bartels lay respectively second and third with the first hour completed, the latter experiencing some difficulties in lapping the backmarkers. They rejoined from the pit-stops in third and fifth, with Vosse having taken over from Davies and former grand prix ace Eric van de Poele now behind the wheel of the championship-winning machine.
The Belgian would soon return to the pits, however, following a clash with a lapped car that necessitated lengthy repairs and left the car down in 11th position at the chequered flag. Biagi, meanwhile, went on to finish the race in the sister MC12 in a battling third place.
“We were fast from the start and ended the season in the best of ways,” Davies said. “I think I drove well even though some slight oversteer made overtaking on the inside of curves difficult.”
Maserati's strike rate in the 2006 FIA GT Championship has been quite staggering, with five victories from ten races, among them the prestigious Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours, and a near clean sweep of GT1 class titles including their second successive teams' crown. Nigh-on bulletproof reliability was undoubtedly a strong factor in the Italian marque's success, with just one retirement and 18 points finishes from 20 starts.
Indeed since September 2004, when the MC12 made its competitive debut at Imola, Maserati has collected four international titles, ten wins, 21 podiums and two consecutive victories in the Spa 24 Hours.
“Even though we won the title with a race to spare, it has still not sunk in,” confessed Bartels, having gone one better on the runner-up spot he achieved in the drivers' standings in 2005. “We won three races and ended nine races out of ten in the points thanks to a reliable car that didn't once give us any problems.”
“We have worked hard all year for the teams' and drivers' titles,” Bertolini concurred. “We evidently worked better than the other teams but they pushed us all the way. We believed in ourselves from the start, the engineers, mechanics, all the drivers and Pirelli. It was a magnificent season. This is everyone's title, including the fans who have watched us from home.”
