Motorsport

Maserati Wraps Up a Third Straight GT2 Title in Its Centenary Season

Philippe Prette clinched the Masters Cup with a round to spare at Zandvoort — a third consecutive title for Maserati's MC20-based customer racer in the brand's motorsport centenary year.

Tom Beckett Sep 21, 2026, 2:32 PM ET · 3 min read

Maserati GT2 of Philippe Prette takes the checkered flag at Zandvoort — Prette sealed the Masters Cup with two class wins and two pole positions at the penultimate round. Photo: Maserati

Philippe Prette has locked up the GT2 European Series Masters Cup with a round to spare, handing Maserati's MC20-based customer racer a third consecutive drivers' title. Two class wins and two pole positions at Zandvoort put the Monegasque on 170 points, 56 clear of his nearest rival, with only 52 left in play.

Prette won the Am class with LP Racing in 2024 and 2025; the category was renamed the Masters Cup for 2026, so this is his third straight championship in the same No. 1 Maserati GT2.

Philippe Prette celebrates his third consecutive GT2 European Series title — Prette has won a class title in each of the Maserati GT2's three full seasons of competition. Photo: Maserati

The decisive moment came in Sunday's second race. Prette slipped to second in class after the mandatory pit stop, then reclaimed the lead six minutes from the checkered flag and crossed the line second overall, helped along by a penalty handed to a driver from another category.

No. 1 LP Racing Maserati GT2 cornering at Circuit Zandvoort — The GT2 pairs the MC20's carbon-fiber monocoque with a 621-hp version of the Nettuno twin-turbo V6. Photo: Maserati

Maserati left the Dutch weekend with two more trophies from the Pro-Am Cup. The No. 8 LP Racing car of Niccolò Pirri and Thomas Yu Lee finished second in class in Race 1, while the Dinamic Motorsport No. 7 of Roberto Pampanini and Mauro Calamia, class winners at Zandvoort a year ago, climbed from sixth on the grid to second in Race 2.

Roberto Pampanini and Mauro Calamia on the Pro-Am podium at Zandvoort — Pampanini and Calamia won their class at Zandvoort in 2025 and returned to the podium this year. Photo: Maserati

The Iron Dames by SP Racing Maserati of Sarah Bovy and Laura van den Hengel never got that chance. The crew qualified third in Pro-Am, but the team couldn't repair the car in time after a technical failure at the end of qualifying, and the No. 85 sat out both races.

Iron Dames by SP Racing Maserati GT2 on track at Zandvoort — Sarah Bovy and Laura van den Hengel qualified third in Pro-Am but couldn't start either race. Photo: Maserati

The timing adds some weight. Maserati frames 2026 as the centenary of both its Trident logo and its motorsport history, and the GT2 — a racing development of the MC20 supercar built around a 621-hp (463-kW) version of the Nettuno twin-turbo V6 — is the brand's first GT race car since the MC12 program of the 2000s. It returned the Trident to GT competition at the end of the 2023 season.

Zandvoort was also a family affair. On the same weekend, at the same track, Prette's son Louis won Saturday's GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup race outright in a Garage 59 McLaren, the first overall Sprint Cup victory for a Gold Cup crew.

"Three titles running represent so much more than a sporting achievement: they demonstrate the competitiveness of the Maserati GT2 and its ability to guarantee consistent performance season after season," said Vincent Biard, head of Maserati Corse.

There's still something left to race for at the Portimão finale on October 17–18: the Masters teams' title remains open, with LP Racing leading the standings. Maserati will be on duty there in another role, too — for the second year, the road-legal GT2 Stradale serves as the official safety car of GT World Challenge Europe, with the MCPURA as the leading car.