Maserati completes a historic first weekend of the GT2 European Series season by conquering Pole Positions, podiums and victories.
The Paul Ricard circuit, where the Trident car made its first appearance last October as a starter for the 2024 racing commitments, was the scene of the start of the dance and the Emilian cars entered by the LP Racing and TFT Racing teams did not disappoint expectations.
The great protagonists were above all the drivers of the Italian team directed by Luca Pirri, with the PRO-AM crew formed by Carlo Tamburini/Leonardo Gorini triumphing in Race 1, both taking the Pole Position in Qualifying, while their teammate Philippe Prette the satisfaction of the success in Class AM in Race 2 was taken away.
Newcomer Alexandre Leroy also took the podium in AM with the TFT Maserati, but the whole weekend was very eventful, offering good discussion points and emotions in the duels on the track.
#1 LP Racing, Maserati GT2: Leonardo Gorini, Carlo Tamburini
Photo by: SRO
Qualifications: LP wins
LP Racing gets off to a great start by grabbing both Pole Positions for the two races on Saturday.
In the first 20' of Q1 Gorini was the great star, lapping in 2'04″523 at the wheel of the Maserati #1 with which he took the overall lead and of the PRO-AM Class, edging out a good 0″460 from the KTM #89 of Jan Krabec (RTR Projects) and half a second to his teammate Prette, who immediately took first place in the AM Class on his debut with the Trident car.
The KTMs of Ronnie Bremer (RacingLab) and Martin Koch (Team MZR) also placed in the Top5, while Leroy achieved the sixth time with the Maserati #24 of TFT Racing, valid as second place in Class AM, beating the Mercedes prepared by 'Akkodis-ASP of his category rivals, Jean-Luc Beaubelique and Pascal Gibon.
In Q2, however, a great performance for Tamburini, who inherited the Maserati #1 from Gorini, posted a significant 2'03″404, giving the second Pole of the weekend to LP Racing and beating Reinhard Kofler, armed with the Team's KTM #812, by 0″322. MZR.
X-Bow GT2 protagonists in this session with Mat'o Homola (RTR Projects) and Simon Birch (Razoon-More Than Racing) occupying the entire second row.
Gilles Vannelet was the poleman of the AM Class, placing the #87 Mercedes of Akkodis-ASP in fifth place, with Prette finishing in sixth position, 1.2 seconds behind his teammate Tamburini and AM in second place.
This time Leroy suffered more, who remained at the pace of 2'08″8 and found himself in 11th place overall (4th AM).
#2 LP Racing, Maserati GT2: Philippe Prette
Photo by: SRO
RACE 1: Gorini/Tamburini dominate
At lunchtime on Saturday there was a green light for the 50' of Race 1 with Gorini and Prette immediately in front of everyone, followed by the KTMs of Bremer, Krabec and Koch, while Leroy in seventh place immediately began to press the Mercedes of Beaubelique for the second position AM.
On lap 4 the Safety Car entered to recover Denis Liebl's KTM, which had spun at the chicane on the 'Mistral' straight following a contact with Pascal Gibon's Mercedes.
The restart took place on the 10th lap and there were immediate skirmishes in the first corners; It was Prette himself who ran into the unfortunate contact and, as leader of the AM Class, found himself spinning and slipping to the back due to the collision with Koch (then penalized at the end of the race with 10″).
On the 9th lap the pit stops started and Bremer handed over his KTM to his team mate Mathiassen, who emerged as leader once the stops were over. Here, however, Tamburini, who got into the Maserati #1 in place of Gorini, was immediately aggressive, overtaking his rival from the RacingLab #10 to regain the lead, then controlling the situation as Kofler on the KTM #812 threatened behind him.
Departure
Photo by: SRO
In the meantime, Leroy had to give up first place AM to a wild Gilles Vannelet, who made a good comeback together with his partner Jean-Luc Beaubelique in the #87 Mercedes of Akkodis-ASP.
The comeback also began for Prette from the back, benefiting from a Maserati #2 that was still competitive despite the blow received and able to get back on top quickly and take back the AM podium.
Meanwhile, up front Tamburini was perfect in his race tire management and after 23 laps he crossed the finish line victorious for a historic victory together with Gorini, beating the KTMs of Koch/Kofler and Krabec/Homola.
Also in the Top5 are the X-Bows of Bremer/Mathiassen and Andersen/Birch, while Beaubelique/Vannelet are sixth overall and celebrate in Class AM ahead of the Maseratis of Leroy and Prette, in seventh and ninth place overall respectively.
#24 TFT Racing, Maserati GT2: Alexandre Leroy
Photo by: SRO
“The whole team worked hard, even at night while we were already in the hotel; teamwork always makes the difference, Leonardo and I drove very well and the results come when you work like this”, said Tamburini at the end of the race .
“The final pressure? It was my first race in GT2, but I have the GT3 experience behind me and I think the tire management was slightly better than the others, also because I noticed that there was less grip compared to the tests.”
“In the final laps I had to adapt a bit, but I also knew that if my rivals wanted to overtake me they could only do so if I made a mistake. That didn't happen and everything went very well!”
Gorini added: “We are an excellent formation, a great, very well organized team. We get along very well together and this is the best way to start.”
“In Race 2 we start from Pole and I am confident that we can do well, also because with the lower temperatures there is a greater possibility of managing the situation and pushing harder”.
#1 LP Racing, Maserati GT2: Leonardo Gorini, Carlo Tamburini
Photo by: SRO
RACE 2: final mockery for Gorini
The second round took place at sunset and the final outcome was anything but predictable, in a match full of forbidden and dramatic shots that shuffled the cards several times.
Tamburini did an excellent job of holding on to first place in Turn 1 at the start, but Kofler took little time to break the deadlock, aware that it was necessary for him to attack the Maserati #1 straight away to have a chance.
The MZR rider then overtook the LP standard bearer, taking the black-green KTM #812 to the lead, with Birch and Homola chasing the Lombard and Dominik Olbert in fifth position taking the lead in Class AM, where three positions further back in the general Prette took second place and Leroy took fourth place in the category and 11th overall.
There was no shortage of sparks here too and on lap 6 Olbert himself collided with Mathiassen at turn 2 during a nice wheel-to-wheel exchange; both KTMs pirouetted and the #90 of the Razoon team remained stuck, forcing the Lamborghini Safety Car to intervene.
Departure
Photo by: SRO
The restart on lap 8 saw Homola immediately attacking Tamburini: the Slovakian took second place during the 10th lap, then the pit stops began and here both LP Maseratis preferred to return, while most of the rivals prolonged the wait in the available window until the 14th lap.
The pit stop of the two cars of the Italian team was not irresistible, especially that of #1; In fact, Prette managed to rejoin in 6th and take the top spot in the AM Class, but Gorini even dropped to 8th.
The Swiss then became the protagonist of a stratospheric comeback, with fast laps and overtaking, also thanks to the excellent tire management carried out previously by his colleague Tamburini.
With Prette following in his wake and leading the way, the two first overtook the Mercedes #888 of Stéphane Perrin on lap 15, then those of Eric De Doncker and Benjamin Ricci, then arriving at the KTM of Thomas Andersen (Birch's colleague), out on lap 19 with about ten minutes left on the clock.
#2 LP Racing, Maserati GT2: Philippe Prette
Photo by: SRO
In this last action Gorini had the green light from Prette, thus being able to take advantage of the free track to push hard, also gaining 2″5 per lap on the KTMs of the two leaders, Koch (MZR #812) and Krabec (RTR #89).
The last two passes were spectacular and Gorini tried to thoroughly study the ideal point for overtaking; at the penultimate corner, with the
A masterly move unfortunately thwarted by the late braking of Krabec, who, throwing himself onto the internal curb, hit him on the right rear, pushing him into the external escape route, while Koch intelligently (seeing himself passing by) braked and further widened his trajectory to avoid both, throwing himself onto the straight in pursuit of Krabec.
Gorini with the battered Maserati tried to keep up with the two, but in turn 2 he lost control, spinning and actually dropping to 13th.
Krabec then got the better of Koch in the KTM double, but at LP Racing the champagne was equally sprayed for the overall third place of Prette, winner of the AM Class in which Leroy obtained the 3rd step of the podium behind the Mercedes of Beaubelique/Vannelet, also finishing sixth overall.
#24 TFT Racing, Maserati GT2: Alexandre Leroy
Photo by: SRO
“The debut was fantastic! We couldn't have hoped for anything better from this race weekend at Paul Ricard. A double Pole Position, the victory in Race 1 and third place in Race 2 demonstrated that our car is capable of excellent performance and of being truly competitive in this series”, declared a delighted Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse.
“The track is our home. We were born on the track and competitions have been part of us since the beginning of Maserati. The GT2 is ideal for us, where we bring exceptional products such as the Maserati MC20 to the curbs, transformed into a perfect racing car “.
“Today more than ever, we are happy to be able to offer our customers a car with character, a perfect synthesis between advanced technology and performance pushed to the highest levels: seeing the Maserati GT2 on the top step of the podium of a GT championship projects our brand in an era of motorsport in which we want to be protagonists.”
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