Maserati has never been shy about drama, but its modern racing renaissance is shaping up to be something more compelling than nostalgia. The 2025 season quietly confirmed what the Trident’s return to closed-wheel racing hinted at back in 2023: Maserati isn’t visiting the paddock—it’s moving in.

The proof comes with hardware. Lots of it.

Philippe Prette, driving the Maserati GT2 run by LP Racing, locked down the Am Class title in the GT2 European Series powered by Pirelli, successfully defending his championship crown after winning it in 2024. That’s not a footnote; that’s dominance. Ten wins from twelve races will do that, especially in a category designed to reward consistency rather than hero laps. The title was formally handed over on November 22 at the SRO Motorsports Group Awards in Venice—a suitably ornate setting for a brand that has always preferred silk gloves to pit-lane grease.

But the bigger story isn’t just what Maserati won. It’s where it’s going.

GT2, Confirmed—and Expanded

Maserati’s GT2 program is officially locked in for 2026, with the GT2 European Series returning and kicking off at Monza on May 30–31. That alone would be enough to keep Modena’s engineers busy, but Maserati is stacking the deck. The brand has signed on to the SRO GT Academy project, first announced during the 24 Hours of Spa, opening the door to something far more ambitious.

The new SRO structure introduces a Silver class, with the GT Academy title awarded to its champion. The prize? A full-season campaign in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup starting in 2027, run in either Silver or Pro-Am trim. In other words, Maserati is positioning itself not just as a constructor, but as a ladder—one that can carry drivers from GT2 into the sharp end of global endurance racing.

That’s not heritage marketing. That’s infrastructure.

America, Finally

For U.S. fans who’ve watched Maserati’s racing revival from afar, here’s the part that matters most: the Maserati GT2 and the unhinged MCXtrema are heading stateside.

The International GT Championship will, for the first time, welcome both cars into its GTX category. This isn’t a token appearance, either. The calendar reads like a greatest-hits album of American road racing: Sebring, Road Atlanta, Lime Rock, Mid-Ohio, Road America, Watkins Glen, VIR, Laguna Seca, Barber, and COTA. If there’s a better way to introduce a European GT weapon to American audiences, we haven’t found it.

Sebring kicks things off February 26 through March 1, which feels appropriate. The place is bumpy, unforgiving, and brutally honest—exactly the sort of circuit that exposes whether a car is built for headlines or for racing. Maserati seems confident it’s the latter.

Built to Travel

Part of that confidence comes from the GT2’s growing eligibility. Thanks to the 2025 rollout of Maserati’s Endurance Pack, the GT2 is now cleared to compete across an even broader range of series. The numbers are telling: over 20 championships, more than 170 races annually, and upwards of 100 race weekends spread across the calendar year.

That’s not boutique racing. That’s a global program.

It also reflects a subtle but important shift in Maserati’s motorsports philosophy. Where the brand once dipped into competition for prestige, it’s now engineering cars designed to work—across rulesets, continents, and driver skill levels. GT2 isn’t a halo project. It’s a platform.

A Century in the Making

All of this momentum lands in a year that carries serious historical weight. In 2026, Maserati will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its racing debut, which came in 1926 when the Tipo 26—wearing the Trident badge for the first time—entered the Targa Florio and promptly won its class.

That victory established a pattern: Maseratis don’t ease into competition; they announce themselves.

Nearly a century later, the names and technologies have changed, but the intent hasn’t. The GT2 program isn’t chasing Le Mans headlines or Formula One relevance. It’s doing something arguably more difficult—building credibility race by race, championship by championship, in series where performance matters more than mythology.

The takeaway is simple. Maserati’s return to racing is no longer a comeback story. It’s an expansion plan.

And judging by the trophy count, the calendar, and the circuits now on the itinerary, the Trident isn’t done carving its name into the asphalt anytime soon.

Source: Maserati