Here we are, the Fanatec GT2 European Series championship ends next Sunday on the Barcelona circuit and an Italian brand, a new entry, is aiming for victory in various categories.
We are talking about Maserati which has put in place a very specific strategy: not an official presence, but direct and important assistance to teams that have chosen the Modena car to aim for victory. For the record, in PRO-AM the teams are: LP Racing (with the Gorini-Tamburini duo) and Dinamic Motorsport (Pampanini-Calamia), while in AM LP Racing (with Prette) and TFT Racing (Leroy).
The idea is to give all the experience of a car manufacturer to private teams, without having the doubt that an official team will be given something better. An approach to racing that was born in Maserati since the development of the GT2 project to support the teams as never before. The result is flattering, as demonstrated by the number of victories and podiums: four triumphs in the Pro Am classification. Six in the AM classification. A record result in five rounds.
To understand more, we went to tease Vincent Biard, Maserati Model Chief Engineer and Maserati Corse Technical Advisor: “For Maserati it was the first complete season in the Fanatec GT2 European Series – he explained – we knew we had developed a very high-performance car, but to find out how competitive it was you had to wait for the comparison in the race. Then on the track we had many confirmations. And by high-performance I mean both the performance of the Nettuno engine and the dynamics of the vehicle.
Now – concludes the engineer – we are confident for the Barcelona round because this track is a sort of concentration of all the characteristics of the other tracks: like Monza it demands a lot from the engines and like Misano and Spa they demand solid ‘lateral dynamics’. And since our car is competitive here we are aiming for victory in various categories. But we’re talking about racing, so anything can happen…”.
There is no shortage of optimism around Modena and the enthusiasm with which the Trident company approaches the world of motorsport can also be found in the MCXtrema project where customers cannot race in an existing category because everything has been created to make them play in freedom during private events.
This is another important point of the racing project: always maintaining the playful aspect. And, in fact, the car was built without having to comply with any technical regulations, aiming directly at the maximum objective of driveability and emotions on the track.
“Despite its nickname “Beast”, it is a car that should not scare any driver – explains Vincent Biard – because predictability is important for a racing car that must be suitable for everyone. Even more important in this case because the MCXtrema is much more powerful than the car that races in GT2.”
Obviously for a car manufacturer the business theme is always central. So it’s not just “game”. “This year we have 4 cars on the grid – Giulio Crocioli – Maserati GT2 & MCXtrema Technical Manager – told us – and it is an excellent parterre for the first year.
Not only that: many other customers have already bought the cars and are ready to hit the track. There has been a growing number of customers since the beginning of the championship. And we are happy with what we are doing. We have two cars competing for the AM title. We are fighting for the victory and we are very satisfied with how things are going.”
The crux of the whole question is why customers choose a Maserati. And here Crocioli has no problem revealing the secret: “Ever since we started with this project – he explains – we aimed to have an easy, predictable car, therefore suitable for a championship where gentleman drivers race. It is a car suitable for a large number of drivers who can enjoy driving it. A strong point that attracted the pilots of this category.”
But not only that: the Maserati example in GT2 demonstrates how the entire world of motorsport is changing. And how the link between industry, between car manufacturers, and therefore the product, is increasingly important for racing. It is no coincidence that one of the strong points of the Maserati offer for drivers is the technical support on the track that they give to customers, with spare parts, know-how and, above all, engineering assistance for set-up choices, commissioning on point, as if they were official teams.
In short, customers have the support – direct – of the parent company in all tenders. It’s been a long time since the teams bought the car and then did everything themselves.
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