The Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeo engines will be revving up once more as they prepare for round five of the championship. The weekend’s action will be taking place at the Infineon circuit in California. This will be the penultimate round of the season before the circus moves on to Shanghai’s Formula 1 circuit. The fact that the final two races take place outside Europe , on two other continents, highlights the series’ global reach.
So, Maserati will be making a return to the US, a country where it has scored famous wins like in the 1939 and 1940 Indy 500 claimed by the 8CT Boyle Special. Other landmarks were the successes at Pikes Peak in 1946 and 1947.
The race for the Overall crown continues: in the last round, at French circuit of Paul Ricard, the first race went to Konvex Motorsports’ Belgian driver, Renaud Kuppens. The victory gave Kuppens the Trofeo Europa as he held off the challenge from Sernagiotto/Fascicolo and Simoni/Ragazzi.
Infineon will also see the return of the endurance events with a 50-minute race, including a compulsory pit stop and driver change for crewed cars, being held along with the two 30-minute races.
In the Bowers & Wilkins guest car will be two drivers who are well-known in the US. Patrick Dempsey, famous for his role as Dr Shepherd in TV series Grey’s Anatomy, is also an experienced driver and owner of an Indy car team. Dempsey has competed on circuits around the world and has appeared in the Le Mans 24 Hour. At Infineon he will be partnered in the Maserati GranTurismo MC Trofeo by Greg Tracy, part of the elite Team Hot Wheels. The squad made it into the Guinness Book of Records with the Hot Wheels Double Loop Dare at the 2012 X Games. Tracy has become one of the most renowned stuntmen in Hollywood after starting out in 1991. His CV boasts spectacular feats from advertisements and feature films and he has also picked up six motorbike wins at Pike Peaks.
There will be new entries from the US, Canada, Columbia, Sweden and Venezuela joining many familiar names from the Maserati Trofeo on the starting grid.
Video clips will be available in the days following the race at www.thenewsmarket.com, while the www.maseraticorse.com portal will publish in-depth reports along with all the tables, images and driver interviews. Eurosport will transmit a highlights show of the Infineon action over the coming weeks.
RMC, Radio Monte Carlo, is the Trofeo’s media partner and will, as usual, publicise and report the events. More information, updates, interviews, an image gallery and videos can be found in the Blog Sport section of the www.radiomontecarlo.net website.
The programme
Friday 21 September
Free practice 1 – Local time 12.45 – 13.30
Free practice 2 – Local time 16.15 – 17.00
Saturday 22 September
Qualifying – Local time 12.50 – 13.35
Race 1 – Local time 15.30 – 16.00
Sunday 23 September
Race 2 – Local time 09.45 – 10.15
Race 3 – Local time 17.00 – 17.50