Maserati target 2007 entry

Le Mans 24 Hours organisers refused Maserati's MC12 entry into this year's event after it did not conform to the event's regulations.

Despite a protest from rivals Aston Martin, Maserati were allowed to compete in the American Le Mans Series, but the car was not eligible for championship points.

Maserati were, however, welcomed into the FIA GT series.

Although there were rumours that Maserati would build a prototype for the French endurance classic, Berro confirmed that they are planning to build a new GT car based around their Grand Sport model for the 2007 race.

"The road has already been marked: Maserati will carry on with GT racing," Berro told Autosprint. "We do want to go to Le Mans, not in 2006 but in 2007. It will be with a GT car, and different from the MC12, because that's not allowed to race in the 24 Hours race.

"Our future car will be the Grand Sport model, which is suited to different interpretations of the regulations."

"The possibility of an MC12 conforming to Le Mans regulations is definitely over because besides having to be reduced to two metres in its maximum width, we would have to make 100. We've only produced 50 MC12s."