September 2004. A month to remember in Maserati’s sporting history. Two MC12s, driven by Bertolini/Salo and Herbert/De Simone, respectively, made their first outing in the FIA GT championship at Imola in what marked Maserati’s return to official competition.

The number 33 and 34 cars really took on the testing Romagna track and finished the fourth from last race of the season in 2nd and 3rd. Fifteen days on, the Modenese GTs topped the podium at Oschersleben with Andrea Bertolini and Mika Salo. The win was just reward for more than a year’s work put in by the team overseen by Giorgio Ascanelli at Maserati Corse.

The penultimate race in 2004, held in Dubai, saw the MC12 again play a starring role when Johnny Herbert and Fabrizio de Simone notched second. This result paved the way for an amazing one-two at Zhuhai, China, when two MC12s paraded across the line to round off an incredible year.