Maserati's huge success with the MC12 GT1 over a decade ago meant the Italian manufacturer's follow-up was always going to be keenly anticipated.
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Based on the road going MC20, the new Maserati GT2 made its competition debut at Paul Ricard in the final GT2 European Series round of 2023 last month and claimed pole at the first time of asking. The LP Racing-entered machine went on to finish second with Leonardo Gorini and Luca Pirri at the wheel.
Autosport was present at the car's launch earlier this year. Here's what we uncovered.
The mid-engined MC20 launched in 2020 is based around a carbon-composite monocoque, which makes the Maserati GT2 unique among the OEM cars developed for a category announced in July 2018 and that finally got going with the launch of the GT2 European Series in 2021.
Among its competitors only the KTM X-Bow GT2 developed by Reiter Engineering is carbon-chassised. That makes it “the perfect starting point for a race car”, according to Nicola Scimeca, boss of the Ycom, Maserati’s technical partner on the GT2 project.
Scimeca is well-known to the Italian sportscar maker: he was chassis team leader on the Maserati MC12 GT1 contender launched in 2004 during a stint at Dallara Autombili. Based in Parma in northern Italy, the company was chosen for the partnership, according to Vincent Biard, project leader at Maserati on the GT2, for “its extensive experience in composites”.
Ycom’s sportscar CV includes working on the structures of LMP1 and P2 prototypes for Audi, ORECA and Ligier among others. It also developed the short-lived Lotus Evora GTE that raced at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2011. The simulation work was carried out in-house by the Italian manufacturer on what Biard describes as a “cutting edge dynamic simulator” at the Maserati Innovation Lab.
Source: Autosport