Nurburgring (D), 29 August 2010 - Their sixth place in the Nuerburgring Championship Race in the FIA GT1 World Championship earns the Bartels/Bertolini duo more points, setting them further in the driver's standings with an advantage of 14 points ahead of the next set of drivers.

After starting out from tenth place, Maserati MC12 no. 1, driven by Bertolini, was able to advance three positions right after the starting line until it reached fifth. Going very fast, Bartels continued to push the car to gain more ground, but his maneuver was limited due to rules in force regarding the car's weight and restrictor plates.

Vitaphone Racing Team's other Maserati, Bernoldi/Ramos's no. 2, came in 12th position, penalized by a collision with Ford no. 5 while it was fighting for 9th place. After seeing the maneuver once more, race officials decided to impose a drive-through penalty on Westbrook.

Longin/Pier Guidi's no. 34 performed well. Despite starting out 21st due to an accident during yesterday's qualifying race, it finished in ninth place, with the Italian driver doing the fastest lap of the race: the 17th in 1:58.370.

The two German drivers, Mueller/Heger, were not very lucky. They reached the finish line 20th in their Maserati MC12 no. 33, slowed down by a collision with an adversary at the first curve after start-off.

Michael Bartels - Vitaphone Racing Team - no. 1: "The rules penalize Maserati MC12s, especially when accelerating, making it really hard to overtake. I struggled with that up to the end; maybe I could have gotten a fifth place, but at the last lap I saw that Stefan Muecke was set on overtaking me and I let him do it thinking I should reach the finish line without compromising the result, so I did not take further risks. It was a tough weekend, but despite it all we still gained precious points for the classification. We have an advantage, but other adversaries have become dangerous, so we have to be well prepared for the next race in Algarve".

Alessandro Pier Guidi - Triple H Team Hegersport - no. 34: "After Saturday's collision during the Qualifying Race, our mechanics did a great repair job, giving us back a perfect car. We are satisfied because we were able to recover extraordinarily well: from 21nd to 9th place. I'm sure that if the accident in the Qualifying Race had not occurred, we would have reached one of the highest positions".

The next race is scheduled for 19 September in Algarve, Portugal.

Nuerburgring

Length of the circuit: 5148 m

Temperature: 15°C air - 18°C track

Championship Race results:

1. Turner/Enge - Young Driver - Aston Martin - 1:00:59.709
2. Kox/Haase - Reiter - Lamborghini Murcielago 670 R-SV + 9.547
3. Hennerici/Margaritis - Phoenix Racing - Corvette Z06 + 13.018

6. Bartels/Bertolini - Vitaphone Racing Team - Maserati MC12 + 16.492
9. Longin/Pier Guidi - Triple H Team - Maserati MC12 + 25.098
12. Bernoldi/Ramos - Vitaphone Racing Team - Maserati MC12 + 47.591
20. Mueller/Heger - Triple H Team - Maserati MC12 + 1:07.079

FIA GT1 World Championship driver's classification

1. Bartels/Bertolini - Vitaphone Racing Team - 91 p.
2. Mutsch - Matech Competition - 77 p.
3. Turner/Enge - Young Driver - 65 p.

Text courtesy of Maserati Press Center