The final European round of the 2006 FIA GT Championship saw a nice spread of honours amongst the manufacturers with Maserati winning the Drivers award, Ferrari coming top in GT2, and the GT1 Manufacturers Cup going to Aston Martin.

Maserati scored a one-two at Adria on Sunday 15 October in the ninth and penultimate round of the International FIA GT championship, as the Maserati MC12s driven by Jamie Davies-Thomas Biagi and Andrea Bertolini-Michael Bartels beat off the challenge of the Longin-Kumpen-Hezemans' Corvette. Bertolini and Bartels took the title with a race to spare. The crown is added to that already won in the team standings by the Vitaphone Racing Team in the last round at Hungaroring (Budapest).

Among their title-rivals, the nr 5 Phoenix Aston Martin DBR9 failed to finish, while the nr 9 Zakspeed Saleen, which had looked like a certain winner, had a brake disc catch fire in the third hour, meaning a late change and a sixth-place finish.



Bartels and Bertolini's fine performance all season means they can go to Dubai with the title firmly in their grasp.

Aston Martin Racing BMS achieved second position in the Teams’ classification, just behind the winning Vitafone Maserati squad. At Adria, the Italian team of Babini/Pescatori and Gollin/Ramos crossed the finishing line in a strong 4th and 5th.

This result for BMS, combined with consistent results throughout the year from all the DBR9 teams including a hard fought second place for Phoenix Racing at the Proximus 24 Hours of Spa, and Race Alliance’s first Aston Martin win in Mugello, allowed Aston Martin to claim the 2006 GT1 Manufacturers Cup.



In GT2, the Ferrari 430 GT2 of Bobbi and Melo came in sixth place in class (last overall) but that was good enough to secure the GT2 Drivers Championship for the AF Corse drivers. With two wins this season, in Silverstone and Dijon, as well as second-place finishes at Spa, Mugello and Hungary, Bobbi and Melo have scored points in every round. The class at Adria was won by the Scuderia Ecosse Ferrari 430 GT2 of Mullen/Franchitti.

Results:

1 Biagi/Davies Maserati MC12 GT1
2 Bertolini/Bartels Maserati MC12 GT1
3 Longin/Kumpen/Hezemans Corvette C6R GT1
4 Babini/Pescatori Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
5 Gollin/Ramos Aston Martin DBR9 GT1
6 Mullen/Franchitti Ferrari 430 GT2

Text: Classic Driver
Photos: DPPI/FIA GT