05/07/2008 - Oschersleben

A good day for qualifying practices at Oschersleben for the Bertolini-Bartels duo, currents leaders in the FIA GT Championship.
Michael Bartels drove the twelve-cylinder Maserati to third row with the fifth best time: 1'24"394, only 644 thousandths from pole position holder Karl Wendlinger, at the end of a very even practice race, with nine vehicles concentrated in the space of a second. The round was delayed by approximately 35 minutes due to the presence wet filler in the racecourse. Tomorrow MC12 no. 1 will attack to once again gain the top spot in the podium in the circuit located south of Magdeburg, the Vitaphone Racing team's home racetrack, where the Tridente has won four consecutive times. The crew driving car no. 2 were also very fast, with Miguel Ramos and Alexander Negraõ clinching the seventh best time at 1'24"699, but who will start out at the twelfth position tomorrow due to the penalty earned during the Adria races. The third MC12, driven by the Montecarlo JMB Racing team, ranked fifteenth today at 1'28"624. It was driven by gentlemen drivers Ben Aucott and Alain Ferté.



Driver declarations after qualifying at Oschersleben

05/07/2008 - Michael Bartels:"Considering that our car is travelling with 30 kg of ballast after our second place in Adria and that other teams got important technical updates after the Le Mans 24-hour race, today's results are good. We are closer than ever to the best teams and we can set a good pace at tomorrow's race. Our aim is the podium."

Andrea Bertolini:"I think that Michael Bartels did a great lap, the race is indubitably very hard because the ballast will also affect the wear of the tyres. Nevertheless our tires' texture is very good and we will be sure to take home another important result".