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THE masters of Maserati were on track in the kingdom at the weekend for the opening round of an exciting race series launched at the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC).
Cedric Sbirrazzuoli of Monaco put in a strong performance to claim a flawless pole-to-flag victory in the historic first-ever race of the Maserati Trofeo JBF RAK Middle East series, and then Joe Ghanem of Lebanon captured race two.
Sbirrazzuoli completed 27 laps when the chequered flag was waved to mark the end of the opening session. Patrick Zamparini was the runner-up finishing 16.606s behind, while Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, the BIC’s chief executive, finished third to grab the final podium place 30.409 seconds from the victor.
Shaikh Salman did well to overtake Faisal Shaker on the 10th lap and then held on tight to keep his position until the very end. The circuit chief was 0.409 seconds off Sbirrazzuoli’s pace.
In a much tighter race two in which the top five were separated by only a second-and-a-half, Ghanem was the victor in 27 laps. Sbirrazzuoli was this time the runner-up 1.341s behind, while Shaikh Salman once again exhibited his fine racing talents by clinching third place 29.404s.
A full grid of 12 Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeo race cars hit the track through free practice and qualifying sessions before battling it out over the two 30-minute long races.
After the successful pre-season test at Yas Marina in neighbouring Abu Dhabi, the race cars underwent technical checks at the Maserati Trofeo JBF RAK technical facility at the Dubai Autodrome before being loaded into containers for the journey by sea to the BIC.
Umberto Cini, managing director of Maserati Middle East & Africa, said: “Our drivers fully exploited the performance of their Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeos on the track.”
The cars will remain in Bahrain to be ready for Round 2 which takes place at the Bahrain International Circuit as part of the next Speed Weekend on January 6-7.
For Maserati details contact Euro Motors on 17750750.
