Silverstone, 2 May 2010 - The Maseratis raced hard to gain important rankings points in the Tourist Trophy, but in the end the Aston Martins - running from home base and with the advantage of racing with 50 kg of ballast less than the Maseratis, as decided by the FIA Commission - took the lead.

After the morning's wet warm-up, it stopped raining in the afternoon in Silverstone, for a very high-energy, eventful Championship Race. The excitement began soon after the start of the race. After two laps, Grosjean's Ford Matech no. 5 - winner of the first round in Abu Dhabi - spun around and was forced to leave the race. Then the back right side of Hezemans's Corvette no. 14 caught on fire, prompting the appearance of the safety car on track for almost ten minutes. When the race restarted, the four Maseratis, in the thick of the group, fought curve after curve, engaging in riveting duels with the Corvettes and the Lamborghinis.

The two Triple H Team Hegersport MC12s were the ones to win the day's headlines with a splendid climb up by Bobbi/Longin on the Maserati no. 34, which moved them up from 14th place at start-off to their final fifth place. The last lap's duel between Mucke/Nygaard's Aston Martin and Longin was hard-fought, but Longin prevailed and defended the position.

The Italian/Belgian pair of drivers was also pitted against their own team-mates Margaritis/Heger, who were on the Maserati no. 33. The latter had started off in the next-to-last row and concluded with a convincing seventh place.

The afternoon proved tougher for the Vitaphone Racing Team. Reigning champions Bertolini/Bartels on the Maserati no. 1 took off from eighth place after a vigorously contested race, made even more difficult by traffic after the pit stop, despite the furious driving of an unrestrained Bartels.

For Bernoldi/Ramos's Maserati no. 2, a good start did not result in a good conclusion as a few problems with the engine slowed it down at first, and then a tire burst, forcing the car to leave the track just a few laps prior to the end of the race.

The situation with a car is currently being examined by race authorities. This could affect the outcome of the rankings.

The Stewards at Silverstone have disqualified car no. 7, Turner/Enge's Aston Martin, after having found it had a flat bottom that is against regulations, excluding the car from the race in which it had taken the chequered flag, having achieved first place.

Next round on 23 May at Brno (Czech Republic)

RACE RESULTS:

1) Hughes/Campbell (Nissan GT-R)
2) Makowiecki/Accary (Aston Martin DB9)
3) Menten/Kechele (Lamborghini Murcielago R-SV)

Text courtesy of Maserati Press Center