Date: 28 September 2007 Vitaphone Racing and Playteam Sarafree go head to head for the Team title at Nogaro The Paul Armagnac circuit in Nogaro, France, will be the setting for the ninth and penultimate round of the FIA GT International Championship. A week on from Brno, where Maserati claimed the GT1 Manufacturers' Cup, the Maserati MC12s will have to overcome the tough challenge that the French track provides. This will be the first time that the circuit is being used for this series. It is a challenging one and the track is fairly narrow. Saying this, overtaking is possible at certain spots. Not overly quick, Nogaro brings to mind Varano de' Melegari. It was inaugurated in 1960 and originally measured 1.8 kilometres but has been lengthened in recent years. The last modifications, in 1989, took the overall length to 3.635 km. The race could see Vitaphone Racing (currently leading on 91 points) take the Team title if they manage to score two points more than Playteam Sarafree (second on 57 points). In either case, the winner will be a team that races in the Maserati MC12. Since 2005, the year in which the Modenese cars began competing in the FIA GT from race 1, Maserati (or a team that uses the MC12) has claimed at least two of the three FIA GT championship titles on offer. The Drivers' crown is still there for the taking. The championship was blown wide open by the Brno result. Thomas Biagi (Vitaphone Racing), Andrea Bertolini and Andrea Piccini (Playteam Sarafree) lead with 47 points, three more than the Christian Montanari/Miguel Ramos (Vitaphone Racing), pairing that won in the Czech Republic. The outcome of the last race has altered things in terms of the win ballast the cars will have to carry. Montanari/Ramos will have 65 kg (including the 25 kg imposed by the Federation on all the MC12s to even out performance levels among the competitors). Bertolini/Piccini have an extra 60 kg on board. The JMB Racing Maserati MC12s will also be appearing in the Citation Cup at Nogaro. In the driving seat will be the Kutemann/Gosse and Aucott/Daoudi crews. Ben Aucott, in the absence of his main rival Tom Cloet, could make mathematically certain of this first ever title to be assigned to the gentleman drivers. Two free practice sessions tomorrow will kick off the weekend (at 9.25 and 13.15). Qualifying will take place later in the day (at 18.30). Sunday will see the 8.30 warm up for the two-hour main event - that will get underway at 13.15. As usual in Italy, the race will be transmitted live on the Sky Sport satellite channel. In the meantime, Andrea Bertolini's participation in the Petit Le Mans has been confirmed. The event will take place between 3-6 October at Road Atlanta (Braselton, Georgia, USA). Maserati's official test driver will get behind the wheel of the Doran Racing Maserati MC12 for ten hours flanked by Fredy Lienhard and Didier Theys. His co-drivers took the 12 cylinder to a fine third place at Elkhart Lake on 11 August..