SuperstarsTouring Cars

Maserati Expand To Two Cars In Search Of Maiden Win

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Swiss Team will expand to run a second Maserati Quattroporte at the next International Superstars Series round at Valencia, as the Italian brand chases its first victory in the series.

Considerable development work carried out during the winter saw the Quattroporte rise towards the head of the pack at the season opener at Monza. The team ran a sole entry there, shared by regular peddler Andrea Chiesa and Maserati factory driver Andrea Bertolini. The reigning GT1 World Champion aided the development work during the winter, together with Maserati technical director Maurizio Leschiutta and team engineer Giuseppe Angiulli. The car was on the pace throughout the weekend, scoring a podium finish in the hands of Chiesa in Race 2.

For the second round of the season, which will be held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo on 8th May, the pair will get to drive one car each as the team expands to a two-car operation.

“For me it's a new challenge after several  years spent in  the GT1 World Championship,” said Bertolini, “and on a racetrack like Valencia there should be more chances to win. I found a lot of motivated and willing guys in the team, they worked hard and even stayed up all night to complete the job. That's who I want to thank. At Monza, we missed the pole by an inch because the brake balancer nut fell loose. I was fastest in the first three splits and I just lost it by 0.051s. I have not been really lucky on race day too.”

“After two up-and-down years with a Maserati Quattroporte which struggled to take off, something finally got into  the right direction,” said Chiesa, “a change of direction operated under the  supervision of new Technical Director Giuseppe Angiulli and with a revised project that proved also convincing for Maserati, as they supported us since the early stages and testing. At Monza, I wanted to get to the end without hitting the same problems that stopped my teammate [a loss of pressure from the left rear tire]

“I just administrated my advantage and I finally got back onto the podium. Ending up in third at our first race has been really important for everybody here. For me and all the team that worked tirelessly in the weeks before the event. Now we're extremely motivated to do better, and enter the two-race stint that will lead us to Valencia and Portimao. We'll be there with two cars, one for me and one for 'Berto'.”

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Peter joined the TCF team in September 2010 and covers GP2 and GP3 along with WTCC and Formula Two. You can find him on twitter at @PeteAllen_
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