MASERATI MC20 GT2 STRADALE

Race version of likeable supercar escapes the track

- MATT PRIOR

The race championship that has inspired this faster, more focused version of Maserati's eminently likeable MC20 supercar is called the GT2 European Series, which sounds very, very fast - but that's somewhat misleading.

The cars in this mostly amateur endeavour sit somewhere between GT3 and GT4 machinery in terms of their performance, suiting mildly uprated road cars. Those homologated include the Porsche 911, KTM X-Bow and MercedesAMG GT. The MC20 was made racy in 2023 and has since won quite a few times.

Now Maserati has created a limited-edition road-going variant to mark the brand's return to the track. And while the European GT2 series isn't super-professional international GT racing, there is at least an identifiable link between the race and road cars.

The MC20 GT2 Stradale, limited to 914 units and coming in £46,000 more expensive than standard, at £273,510, gets the kind of changes that make it a more capable, but also more dependable, track car.

"This car needs to breathe a lot," designer Francesco Morosi says about its uprated cooling, for which he has added a larger front grille and 16% bigger rear wing vents, which let 5% more airflow to the main radiator and increase intercooler performance by 20%.

Other sculpting and vents let twice as much heat get out of the GT2 as the standard MC20. Over 10 laps of Stellantis's Balocco test track, the brake fluid stays 40deg C cooler.