We’ll forgive you if you haven’t heard of the Superstars Series. It’s only been around since 2004 (the International category since 2007) and all of the races take place in Europe – in fact over half took place this season in Italy. But similar to other national touring car championships – Germany’s DTM, Japan’s Super GT and Australia’s V8 Supercars come to mind – the Superstars Series packs some serious racing machinery.
Take the Maserati Quattroporte EVO, for example. If that sounds badass to you, just look at the thing, because it is. It’s based, of course, on the Trident marque’s four-door model, which is already desirable enough on its own, but has been race prepped with an extreme wide-body kit and all the trimmings. It’s the car with which Andrea Bertolini – a long-time Ferrari and Maserati factory driver who took the FIA GT1 championship in the MC12 he helped develop – and his Swiss Team just clinched the championship.
It’s the first time that a Maserati has won the series title, previous champions having raced cars based on the BMW M3, Audi RS4 and Jaguar S-Type R. The formula calls for V8 engines, no turbos, based on four-seaters with two doors or four, and the rest of the field is made up of everything from the Chevy Lumina (a rebadged Holden) and Cadillac CTS-V to the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and Porsche Panamera S. All in all, ten marques are represented, but this year Maserati was crowned champion of them all.
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