This new race championship will kick off at Paul Ricard circuit, in France, on the 28th of April 2013. Before that, on 14th of April, the official test session will be run at Misano. The legendary circuit of Nuerburgring, Germany, is scheduled for June 2nd with Silverstone, on July 14th, marking the halfway point in the season. The English weekend will also see the season’s first title awarded: the Trofeo Europa. Last year the crown was won by Belgian driver Renaud Kuppens, who also went on to take the overall title.
Round four will be held at Sonoma (California), USA. The circuit is situated not far from San Francisco and will be the first stage held outside Europe. Next up will be Asia, on 3 November, and the circuit of Shanghai, China. This was the scene of last year’s closing Trofeo Maserati race but this time round the curtain will come down at Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, on 14 December. This will not be the first time that the Middle East has hosted a Trofeo series as the Maserati Trofeo JBF Rak was run there from December 2011 to March 2012.
To date, around fifteen teams have signed up for the series and the aim is to top twenty. Another objective is to maintain the championship’s international flavour given that 84 drivers from 24 countries took part in 2012. This season, each round will see the running of two 45’ practice sessions and two official qualifying sessions lasting 20’ each. There will also be two 30’ races and one lasting 50’ with a compulsory pit stop for crewed cars; last year this longer format was only run at some of the meets.
To make things even more exciting and to balance things out on the track, a new handicap rule will come into play for the quickest drivers: the drivers who place in the top five in the first two races in each round (determined by totting up the results) will have to pit for more than the obligatory 45-seconds in Race 3. This added time will range from 5 seconds for the fifth-placed driver to 20 seconds for the driver in top spot.
The Trofeo package allows drivers to compete on their own or as part of a private team that fields its own 2010, 2012 or 2012 version of the car. This car must meet all the technical regulations laid down by Maserati. The all-inclusive cost for the ‘world’ races (1 test and 6 rounds) is €120,000 net of tax. The cost of participation in the first round, at Paul Ricard (including the Misano session) is €30,000 net of tax. The Trofeo Europa (Paul Ricard, Nuerburgring and Silverstone, as well as the Misano test session) is €70,000.
