Trofeo Motorsport team driver Rod Wilson clinched the inaugural Australian Sports/GT Intermarque Championship for Maserati last weekend. Driving an ex-works Maserati GT3 coupé, Wilson secured the win in the seventh and final round at the Australian Motor Racing Series (AMRS) event at Melbourne’s Calder Park Raceway. In doing so, Maserati has returned to the top step of the podium of Australian motor racing.

He also won the Class A title in the championship, while team mate Jim Manolios was fourth outright and third in Class A, driving a Maserati Trofeo. The result was a triumph for the Melbourne-based team, which was only formed at the beginning of 2007, and has been assisted throughout the course of the season by Maserati Australia, Pirelli, and Iveco trucks.

While Maserati recently moved into an unassailable lead with its MC12s in the Europe-based FIA GT World Championship, the Sports/GT Intermarque is the first major win Down Under for the iconic Italian marque in many years. The team also delivered a significant world first with its championship win – the first race victory anywhere for a car fitted with Dymag ultra-lightweight carbonfibre composite wheels. Trofeo is the exclusive Australian distributor for the British-made wheels, and the centre-lock versions fitted to the winning Maserati are the first in Australian competition.

“It has been a thrill to bring Maserati back to prominence on Australian circuits this season,” Wilson said. "Trofeo Motorsport started the season with two V8-powered Trofeo coupés and half way through the year was able to upgrade the lead car to an ex-factory GT3.
 

With its yellow and red livery, a tribute to Pirelli, the GT3 has been a real head-turner at the tracks, as well as a formidable racing machine. The team is also extremely pleased with Jim Manolios’s result, he only began racing this year, but has quickly learned the necessary skills and racecraft.”

Both cars raced on Pirelli competition slick tyres, for which Trofeo Motorsport is the exclusive Australian distributor. Rod Wilson is one of Australia’s most experienced drivers in a wide range of single-seaters, GT cars and touring cars. This is the second championship he’s won in its inaugural season, the other being the 2001 V8 BRutes ute racing series. Future racing plans for the Trofeo Motorsport Maseratis will be announced later, but meanwhile the team’s transporter and Iveco Power Star prime mover will embark on a major roadshow next month to display the new Maserati Granturismo coupe to enthusiasts around the country.

The racing Maseratis will continue to be the star attractions at Trofeo’s Ultimate Drive Days, where owners and enthusiasts are able to drive the current roadgoing Maserati GranSport coupes and Quattroporte Sport GT sedan on a racing circuit and enjoy some thrilling “race” laps alongside Wilson or Manolios.