Maserati GT2 Stradale: The Race-Car-Inspired Special Could Be Racier

Maserati might be thought of more as a luxury brand than a racing brand today, but for many, many years it built dedicated race cars, even competing in Formula 1 in the 1950s—its rivalry with Enzo Ferrari set up the first act in Michael Mann’s Ferrari. And the 111-year-old company isn’t completely done racing. It builds and sells GT2 race cars based on the MC20 for the GT2 European Series, and to celebrate this—including a series-best 12 wins in 2024—Maserati constructed the roadgoing GT2 Stradale.

Limited to 914 examples worldwide, the Stradale takes some elements of the race car and applies it to the road car, but most is MC20 carryover, including the carbon-fiber tub and aluminum subframes (front and rear), suspension arms, and eight-speed dual-clutch transaxle. Even the twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6, with its novel prechamber ignition, is the same as the regular MC20, save a token 10-hp bump to 631 horses.

Chassis changes are as you’d expect with a racy model. The springs are 8 percent stiffer in front and 10 percent stiffer in the rear, and engineers recalibrated the bushings. A large part of the spring-rate increase is due to the Stradale making a lot more downforce than the MC20. What is 320 pounds at 174 mph in the MC20 is 1102 pounds of downforce at the same speed in the Stradale thanks to a carbon-fiber rear wing, extended spoiler, reworked underbody and diffuser, fender vents, and an S-duct-style front end that eliminates the regular MC20’s frunk. Of course, the adjustable dampers are retuned too. Forged aluminum wheels 42 pounds lighter than the MC20’s have a center-lock nut. Fun fact: The last Maserati to have center-lock wheels was the Ferrari Enzo–based 2004 MC12.

Aside from the wing, the biggest visual difference is the rear fenders. The intercooler and air intakes on each hock are much larger and look like they actively grab the air passing by, rather than merely letting gravity and Bernoulli pull the air in. This was required because Maserati situated the heat exchangers more vertically to increase their efficacy by 20 percent, something it deemed necessary for track driving. Maserati also did lots of small aero tricks—such as a mesh on the front-fender vents that directs hot evacuated air away from the rear intakes—to make sure that the coefficient of drag (0.38) increases by as little as possible: a bump of 0.005, according to engineers.

The carbon-fiber cocoon that is the cabin lacks carpet; instead the exposed structural tub is on display. And while there are more surfaces covered with Alcantara, Maserati used a thinner (thus lighter) version of the faux suede to keep weight down while letting the material help with interior noise abatement. Standard carbon-fiber buckets do an excellent job of keeping you in place at the expense of comfort in traffic. By comparison, Porsche’s carbon seats are more comfortable day to day, but no worse at holding you in place. The standard MC20 seats can be substituted at no cost.

Collectors will pursue the $13,750 Performance Pack option. It swaps Bridgestone Potenza Sport tires for Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2Rs and slightly upsizes the carbon-ceramic rotors—fronts increase 0.3 inch in diameter and 0.1 inch in thickness, but the rears grow 0.8 and 0.2, respectively. The upsized brake hardware uses the same calipers and is largely employed to take more advantage of the 2R tires, but the option’s biggest feature is an electronically controlled limited-slip differential. We didn’t get a chance to drive a car without the optional diff, but we can say that with it the car never struggles with grip, even in corners.

The Performance Pack also includes a few more drive modes, which are set up very much like GM’s Performance Traction Management. There’s Wet, GT, Sport, and Corsa for all Stradales, but the Performance Pack unlocks a graduated series of Corsa Evo modes (4, 3, 2, and 1) that eventually disable all the stability nannies, leaving a track-focused ABS program on. Wonderfully, in all modes, Maserati lets the driver choose the suspension firmness independently (Soft, Mid, or Hard).

You can get the GT2 Stradale in any color you want, but any outside the base color palette fall under the Fuoriserie program, which is akin to Mercedes Manufaktur or Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, meaning it’ll cost you unadvertised amounts for personal flourishes. But you shouldn’t look past the Matte Digital Aurora paint. It’s a bright blue base coat with a translucent red applied on top before the matte finish. In low light it looks like a deep purple, but in direct sun it’s bright blue, and the sharp edges where you’d normally find glare produce red spots surrounding a gradient fade back to bright blue. It’s not the same color-changing tech found on a mid-’90s Ford Mustang Cobra painted Mystichrome, but the dramatic effect is similar and will certainly make people look twice.

Despite the carbon-fiber construction and weight-savings measures, the GT2 Stradale is but a claimed 132 pounds lighter than the MC20, which, based on our previous test, means the GT2 Stradale weighs at least 3600 pounds (though Maserati says it weighs a few hundred pounds less). Acceleration to 60 mph should be just a hair over three seconds and should you want to, it’ll go 201 mph given the room.

So, a bit lighter and about the same horsepower for a roughly $80,000 premium? This is the question many a Maserati salesperson will face when trying to sell the $313,995 GT2 Stradale. When you add GT2 to the name of a car, people expect big power or greatly reduced weight. Better yet, big power and greatly reduced weight. The Stradale doesn’t really check either of those boxes. It feels nimbler with the Michelins providing some mega grip in corners, but its steering is a bit numb although accurate and responsive. The brakes are powerful but touchy, and the transmission shifts with an unnecessary jolt. It’s fun and lovely to look at, but it just doesn’t feel as fast as something this pricey should. Full disclosure: Our exposure to the car was very limited and with a tight leash choking us from the passenger seat. Given a place to drive it without a passenger, the GT2 Stradale could come alive in the way a track-focused car should. We can think of one such place in Virginia.

The last time Porsche made a GT2, it added 160 horses to a 911 Turbo. Mercedes-AMG went full ballistic missile with the 720-hp GT Black Series. Sure, the Merc didn’t have a two in its name, but it might as well have. Unless you already have a garage filled with some of those trident-wearing race cars from the 1950s and 1960s, you’ll be back at the dealership asking for the power that was left behind. This engine, after all, makes 724 horses in the track-only MCXtrema.

Source: Reviews - aranddriver.com