With a couple of months until the 2006 racing season starts, here is a look back at 2005, a major year in the history of Maserati racing.

For 2005, two customer teams each raced MC12 cars in the full FIA GT Championship; the German team, Vitaphone Racing, ran two cars in their distinctive black and green livery, while Monaco-based JMB Racing also had two cars, in dark blue. The races were designed to be a true test of man and machinery; most races were three hours in length, with a 24-hour race thrown in at mid-season.

Right from the beginning of the season, at the historic Monza circuit in Italy, the MC12 proved itself the perfect car for the series. It claimed four of the top five places in the season opener, and followed that up with a clean sweep of the podium at Magny-Cours, in France, three weeks later. These two races set the pattern for the season; the MC12 was fast and consistent, and at least one Maserati finished on the podium at each of the eleven races.

In their first ‘official’ season of competition since 1957, Maserati took the Manufacturers’ Cup, and Vitaphone claimed the Teams’ Championship from JMB – in both competitions, Maserati racked up more points than the rest of the competitors combined. The MC12 took four wins, eight second places and six thirds – eighteen podium finishes from 44 starts, a remarkable rate of success.

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