The battle for the overall win raged for many hours; three Vitaphone Maserati MC 12 cars battled three Corvettes. First to falter was the nr 8 Sangari Team Brazil Corvette, which destroyed itself against the tyre wall at Raidillon in the fourth hour; then, a heavy rain shower seemed to shift the balance in favour of Vitaphone Racing Team. But just before midnight the nr 1 Maserati hit the barriers hard at Fagnes; the car was brought back to the pits but repairs took several hours, the car returning to the track at around 3.00pm.
Repairing the barriers also required an hour long safety car period. The nr 33 Vitaphone car then lost time to repairs after colliding with a backmarker – but the remaining three cars, the nr 2 Maserati and the nr 3 and 4 Corvettes, put on a terrific show, lapping incredibly quickly with only seconds between them. At first it was the nr 3 SRT Corvette which spent most time in the lead, but then the nr 4 PK Racing car pulled out a small advantage. It then seemed the nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati had the pace to pull clear – until disaster struck. A high-speed blow-out did huge damage and left the car stranded out on the track and out of the race.
And so we were down to two Corvettes – and then there was one. In the final three hours, the nr 3 SRT Corvette developed an oil leak, which could not be fixed; the team were forced to park in the garage, only appearing for the final laps. This left the nr 4 PK Carsport Corvette, which had run a virtually faultless race and took a fine victory as a result. The nr 33 Vitaphone Maserati ran solidly after being repaired, and steadily climbed back to second overall. The third GT1 finisher was the nr 35 Nissan Motorsport Nissan GT-R; however, the car is not eligible for points in the FIA GT Championship, so the points for third went to the nr 1 Vitaphone Maserati. SRT was classified fifth and took points for fourth, while the nr 2 Vitaphone Maserati was classified sixth and took points for fifth.
With two consecutive wins, Hezemans and Kumpen now have a slender one-point lead over Maserati’s Bartels and Bertolini going into the second half of the season. The Maserati Vitaphone Racing Team still retains a healthy lead in the Teams classification.
Pole to Podium Finish for Maserati in the SPA 24 Hours
25/07/2009 - Belgium
Maserati went from pole position to a podium finish at the weekend (25-26 July 2007) in one of motorsport’s toughest events, the Spa 24 Hour race at the legendary Belgian race track, but in a daunting race of attrition for the Italian car maker, three Maseratis started at the front of the race only to see one finish on the podium.