The latest car to join the ever-growing GT4 racing category comes from Maserati. The GranTurismo MC will be available to competitors in the 2010 GT4 European Cup and will also form the basis of a one-make series model.

The new car was revealed at the ‘balance of performance’ tests in March organised by SRO at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France. It will compete with cars such as the Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and BMW M3 GT4 for overall honours in a series designed for the serious amateur who wants to race a car from Les Grandes Marques - yet at the same time keeping some sort of limit on costs.



The 4691cc, V8-engined car is based on the highly acclaimed GranTurismo S road version and comes equipped with the ‘paddle’, electro-actuated gearbox (Maserati announced a conventional torque-converter automatic for the road car at the 2009 Geneva motor show). Developed with the assistance of the 2008 FIA GT champion, Vitaphone Racing Team’s Michael Bartels, the Modenese company remains a little shy when quoting power and performance, but you can expect it to be competitive with the Astons.

The cars will be sold directly through Maserati Corse and have an ‘indicative price’ of 135,000 euros + VAT. It is likely that one or two cars will be entered by a private team in some GT4 European Cup events during the second half of this season.



As far as a one-make series for 2010 is concerned, the Italian company is clearly wishing to reprise the popular Trofeo series of a few years ago. Economics will, no doubt, have a bearing on whether the races go ahead.

In previous years the GranSport-based Trofeo cars proved a popular way of ‘arriving and driving’ at big race meetings with an all-in price to rent a car for the season.

Text - Steve Wakefield
Photos - Maserati