Leonardo Gorini and Luca Pirri have been entered as the GT2’s inaugural drivers, as the Italian manufacturer makes its long-awaited follow-up to the revered MC12 GT1 that bowed out at the end of its title-winning 2010 FIA GT1 World Championship campaign.
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Maserati made its motorsport return by taking over the Venturi Formula E team ahead of the all-electric championship’s switch to Gen3 rules for 2022-23, and also revealed a racing version of its MC20 sportscar which was formally presented at the Spa 24 Hours in June.
Powered by the same three-litre twin-turbocharged Nettuno V6 engine as the road-going model, the Maserati GT2 has undergone extensive development by Italian company YCOM, whose managing director Nicola Scimeca was the head designer on the MC12 project for Dallara.
Furthering its links to the MC12, the GT2’s lead test driver Andrea Bertolini won four titles spanning the FIA GT and GT1 World Championship eras in six seasons with the MC12.
LP Racing has entered three examples of the Audi R8 LMS GT2 this season in the SRO-run championship for pro-am lineups, featuring drivers with Silver and Bronze gradings, with cars that have more power but are less reliant on aerodynamics than GT3 machines.
LP Racing team boss Pirri, who made one outing in an MC12 at Zhuhai with JMB Motorsport in 2005, said the opportunity to be a part of Maserati’s GT comeback was too good to pass up.
His co-driver Gorini is a series regular who has spent the season to date in an Ebimotors Porsche 911 GT2 RS Clubsport.
“We have followed the project and the development from the beginning, and we immediately decided to become a part of the great comeback of Maserati to GT racing,” Pirri said.
Maserati MC20 GT2
Photo by: Maserati Media Center
“As a driver, I will have the honour to drive the car alongside Leonardo Gorini, who is both a friend and an incredible driver with great potential. Up until this final round of the GT2 European Series, he was in the fight for the 2023 Am class title.
“YCOM, who has been appointed by Maserati to develop the GT2 has used all it’s great motorsport know-how to create a product like no other in this GT2 class, so kudos to them.”
The team has completed two days of testing so far, with Pirri confident that the car has “incredible potential”.
“The thing that struck us most was how user-friendly it was,” he added.
“We believe the Maserati GT2 will go on to achieve great success with a great variety of drivers.”
In August Maserati revealed a trackday-only iteration of the MC20 called the MCXtrema, which is reportedly capable of producing an additional 100 horsepower over the GT2 with new turbochargers.