Gabriele Matteuzzi and Piergiuseppe Perazzini, driving the Megadrive-Racing Box Maserati MC12, secured a fine victory in race one of the Italian GT Championship at Monza yesterday. However it was something of a bittersweet day for the crew as they slid out off the track at Lesmo in race two and became beached, ending their interest in the proceedings early.

QUALIFYING

The Megadrive-Racing Box Maserati MC12s secured a double front row at Monza after the qualifying. Gabriele Matteuzzi and Piergiuseppe Perazzini were the drivers who claimed top spot during qualifying for the third Italian Turismo Championship race. In the first session to decide the starting grid for race one, Matteuzzi's MC12 obtained the second quickest time of 1:47.202 at an average speed of 194,537 km/h. Pole was taken by the Ferrari 550 Maranello, with Malucelli behind the wheel.

In session two, valid for the starting grid of the second race, Piergiuseppe Perazzini lapped at 1:47.506 (average 193,987 km/h), 0.347 off the time set by the Ferrari 550 Maranello driven by Lancelotti. The MC12 confirmed its superb engineering and aerodynamic features. The MC12's top speeds were the quickest registered during qualifying. The balance and set up were also satisfactory.

In the Trofeo CSAI GT3 class, second spot was secured by the AF Corse Maserati Light with Frigerio/Aguas (1:57.583) in the driving seat. They were followed by the Lights crewed by Giudici/Romanini (1:57.821), Baso/Ceccato (2:00.506) and Palma/Zampaloni (2:01.584). Pole position went to the Light driven by Giudici/Romanini. Their great time of 1:57.492, saw them edge out Palma/Zampaloni (1:58.810). Fourth and fifth went to the other Lights steered home by Baso/Ceccato (2:01.348) and Frigerio/Aguas (2:02.600) respectively. The car driven by Ceccato and Baso will line up with 45 kg of ballast following the win at Vallelunga.

RACE 1

Before the start, all the teams were concerned with the high fuel consumption levels on a circuit like Monza. At the green light, Matteuzzi, who started from second, dropped a position going into the first chicane. There were a series of clashes over the opening stages and Romanini, in the Maserati Light, had to abandon the race. After quite a violent clash, Zampaloni (AF Corse) was also forced to make two long pit stops. A number of excursions led to the introduction of the safety car. At the restart, the positions in GT1 were unchanged, with all the cars bunched up. The leader in the Trofeo CSAI GT3 was Rui Aguas (Maserati Light AF Corse).

Thirty minutes from the end, Matteuzzi moved alongside and then passed Morbidelli's Lamborghini on the straight. He was now in second. Soon after the driver changes, Perazzini went into a spin. Luckily, it did not cause any lasting damage.
 

The MC12 was in third place nineteen minutes from the end. Alessandro Frigerio (standing in for his brother, Luca) held the lead in GT3 in the Light that Rui Aguas had just vacated. In the final fifteen minutes, Perazzini's Maserati appeared to be quicker than the two leading Ferrari 550s. The decisive move came on lap 22 when the Megadrive driver swept past Ramos at the Ascari curve. Perazzini pushed on in chase of Lancelotti. On the very next lap Lancelotti collided with Baso's Light while trying to overtake at Ascari. The way was clear for the MC12 to move into the lead and see out the remaining seven laps undisturbed. Matteuzzi also had the satisfaction of setting the fastest lap time. Maserati's success was made complete by the Lights scoring a double win in GT3 with Frigerio/Aguas edging out Palma/Zampolini.

RACE 2

Gabriele Matteuzzi and Piegiuseppe Perazzini's Monza weekend ended in disappointing fashion. Their Maserati MC12 left the track at Lesmo, an incident that put paid to any chances of repeating their success in race 1.

The rain that fell a few minutes before start of the warm up lap left sections of the circuit slick. Perazzini lost a place at the start but wasted no time in claiming it back. The wet surface contributed to a high number of cars leaving the track or spinning. When the green flag was flown, Perazzini was in second. In the GT3 class, Andrea Palma's Maserati MC12 held the lead. He was tracked by Giudici and Baso in an identical car. Perazzini appeared to be losing ground on Lancelotti and also had Montermini's Ferrari close behind. Meanwhile, the sun had once more begun to shine, almost entirely drying out the track.

Matteuzzi took Perazzini's place at the driver change and held second place. However, then came the incident that changed things when, on lap 20, Matteuzzi ended up in the run off area. There was no way back into the race for the MC12 and so the win would be fought out between the two Ferrari 550 Maranellos. In the GT3 class the tussle between the Light drivers went on. Zampolini was leading from Romanini and Ceccato.

The safety car was called for eight laps from the end so that a car that had been involved in a crash could be removed. Once the race restarted, the Light drivers set about taking each other on once more. The race ended with Romanini / Giudici winning out. He only just edged out Palma / Zampaloni and Baso / Ceccato. It was a Maserati triple that confirms the Maserati Light's leading role in the Trofeo CSAI GT3 class. Matteuzzi and Perazzini now occupy fifth place in the GT1 class with 80 points. In the GT3 it is Zampaloni/Palma (95 points) who lead from Ceccato (84 points).