The 2004 Daytona 24 Hours was particularly
significant for Gruppo Ferrari Maserati because it saw the first
international competition appearance by the Trident for many years,
as well as a great performance from a 360 GT.
The Red Bull Racing Ferrari 360 GT came home in sixth place overall,
driven by Klaus Engelhorn, Philipp Peter, Andrea Montermini and
touring car legend Dieter Quester.
This was the debut race for the new Maserati Trofeo Light. Two
cars were fielded - by Risi Competizione driven by Ralf Kelleners,
Anthony Lazzaro and Matteo Bobbi and by Scuderia Maserati of Washington
for Fabrizio De Simone and the Americans, Stephen Earle, Emil Assentato
and Nick Longhi. Bobbi, of course was second in a 550 Maranello
in the 2003 FIA GT Driver's Championship (with the same points as
team mate Thomas Biagi) and De Simone was third in N-GT with a 360
Modena (second "on the road" behind the winning pair).
The Scuderia Washington car actually took the class lead in the
first hour and was consistently among the top three GT cars for
the first six hours, but lost time when a minor suspension part
broke. Unfortunately, it was forced to retire in the final stages
of the race after a collision. Despite appalling weather, the Risi
Competizione car came home safely eleventh in class and twenty sixth
overall.
The Maserati Trofeo Light is the product of a collaboration between
the Modena racing department and Italtecnica and is a development
of the car used in the company’s one make series, which in
turn is based on the road-going Coupe Cambiocorsa.
It is, hopefully, the "Little Acorn" from which the "Mighty
Oak" of the Maserati MCC GT programme will grow, the Gruppo
having decided that this is the path by which Maserati will return
to fame and fortune. Just as F1 is the powerhouse that drives Ferrari,
it will be GT racing that drives Maserati, thus remaining true to
the principle laid down by Enzo Ferrari himself, of marketing being
lead by a strong competition programme.
Tifosi have been crying out for a top-class sportscar effort from
Ferrari for many years to succeed the evocative 333SP programme,
particularly a Le Mans winner. It looks like we will have to be
content with its sister marque.
It is interesting to note that Ferrari's sports car heritage is
much stronger than Maserati's, who tended to make better monoposti,
the 250F of course, being one of motor racing's all time classics.
Maserati's last works sports racer programme featured the mighty
450S. Developed in 1956 the car was fitted with a 400 bhp 4.5 litre
V8 engine. It made its competition debut in the 1957 Argentinian
1000 km race in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss
where it retired with transmission failure. No such problems intervened
at the Sebring 12 hours later in the year, with Fangio and Jean
Behra storming to victory.
The marque was less successful at Le Mans. A special aerodynamic
coupé was entered for Moss/Schell and a conventional car
for Behra/André Simon but both cars retired with driveshaft
failure. Sir Stirling later described the coupé as "the
second-worst car I ever drove".
The 1957 World Sports Car Championship was finally settled at the
Venezuelan 1,000km in Caracas in November. Maserati entered three
cars which all crashed, ironically giving the title to - Ferrari.
It is doubly ironic that Maserati never got over the financial blow
and the factory team retired; however the tipo went on to enjoy
success in the USA in the hands of such worthies as Carroll Shelby,
Jim Hall and Masten Gregory.
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