Vitaphone Racing, or Vita4One, was a German racing team who participated in the FIA GT Championship. The team was actually Bartels Motor & Sport GmbH, but operated under the title of its main sponsor, Vitaphone GmbH. They have successfully raced the Maserati MC12 GT1 since 2005, becoming one of the most successful GT teams in the series with five FIA GT1 Teams' Championship and four FIA GT1 Drivers' Championship. Their chief drivers were Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini.

Racing history

The Vitaphone Racing team has enjoyed success in the FIA GT, GT1 class championship. In 2004, they initially campaigned a Saleen S7-R, coming in fourth in the teams championship. Although racing under their own entrant name, the car was in actually run by Konrad Motorsport.

In 2005, they switched to the Maserati MC12 and won the FIA GT teams championship ahead of JMB Racing (also racing a Maserati MC12) allowing Maserati to win the FIA GT Manufacturers Title. In 2006 Vitaphone Racing again won the FIA GT Teams Title, and their drivers Andrea Bertolini and Michael Bartels tied each other for the Drivers' Title.

In 2007, they once again won both the Driver and Teams Championships, this time with Thomas Biagi the sole Drivers Champion, because the regular co-driver that year, Michael Bartels, missed races at Silverstone and Bucharest, with Mika Salo and Fabrizio Gollin taking his place at each of those rounds respectively. Also, Bartels did not receive the points for finishing 6th at Zhuhai, as he did not complete the required 35 minutes of time in the car.

2008 would be another successful year for the team, with Bartels and Bertolini repeating their success of 2006, and also winning the Spa 24 Hours alongside fellow Vitaphone drivers Miguel Ramos and Alexandre Negrão. Vitaphone also claimed the Teams' Championship for the fourth consecutive year.

They also entered an Aston Martin DBR9 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008, as the Maserati MC12 was not eligible as a GT1 car under ACO's technical regulations.

In 2009, they won their fifth consecutive Teams' Championship, with Bartels and Bertolini being Drivers' Champions for the third time.

They have continued their GT programme in 2010, entering two updated Maserati MC12 to contest the FIA GT1 World Championship. They became the inaugural GT1 World Champions at the 2010 FIA GT1 San Luis round winning both the Drivers and Teams Championships with Bartels and Bertolini taking the Drivers Championship.

For the 2011 season, Vitaphone withdrew from the GT1 World Championship and competed in the Blancpain Endurance Series with 2 Ferrari 458, one of which was driven by the team's owner Michael Bartels and Andrea Bertolini.

In 2012, the team (as Vita4One) entered the FIA GT1 World Championship one last time in a BMW Z4. In the following years, he competed in championships such as ADAC GT Masters, Blancpain GT Series, and British GT, without notable success. His last appearance was in 2014.

Racing record

24 Hours of Le Mans results Year Entrant Car Drivers Class Laps 2008 Vitaphone Racing Team Strakka Racing 53 Aston Martin DBR9 Peter Hardman Nick Leventis Alexandre Negrão GT1 82 DNF DNF

Complete FIA GT Championship results Year Entrant Car Engine Tyres Drivers Class R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 R11 2004 Vitaphone Racing Team 5 Saleen S7-R Saleen 7.0L V8 Michael Bartels Uwe AlzenSpa 24h endurance driver: Franz Konrad GT MON1st VAL13th MAG3rd HOC1st BRN13th DONDNF SPADNF IMO2nd OSC1st DUB16th — 7th 4th 6 Saleen S7-R Saleen 7.0L V8 Franz Konrad Walter Lechner Jr.Spa 24h endurance drivers: Toni Seiler / Gerold Pankl — VAL15th MAGDNF HOCDNF BRNDNF DON15th SPADNF IMODNF OSCDNF DUB19th — 19th21st 2005 Vitaphone Racing Team 9 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Michael Bartels Timo ScheiderSpa 24h endurance driver: Eric van de Poele GT1 MON2nd MAG2nd SIL2nd IMODNF BRN5th SPA1st OSC4th IST1st ZHUDNF DUB2nd BAH2nd 2nd 1st 10 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Fabio Babini Thomas BiagiSpa 24h endurance drivers: Jamie Davies / Stéphane Lémeret MON4th MAG4th SIL1st IMO2nd BRNDNF SPADNF OSCDNF IST2nd ZHU4th DUB1st BAH1st 4th 2006 Vitaphone Racing Team 1 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Michael Bartels Andrea BertoliniSpa 24h endurance drivers: Eric van de Poele / Andrea Montermini GT1 SIL1st BRN4th OSC1st SPA1st RIC8th DIJ5th MUG2nd BUD2nd ADR1st DUB5th — 1st 1st 2 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Miguel Ramos Stéphane LémeretSpa 24h endurance drivers: Vincent Vosse / Dirk Müller SIL4th BRN7th OSCDNF SPADNF RIC5th DIJ3rd MUG4th BUD3rd ADRDNF — — 12th 2007 Vitaphone Racing Team 1 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Thomas Biagi GT1 ZHU6th SIL2nd BUC1st MON2nd OSC1st SPA2nd ADR2nd BRN7th NOGDNF ZOL3rd — 1st 1st Michael Bartels (Rd 1–3, 5–10) 6th Fabrizio Gollin (Rd 4, 6)Spa 24h endurance driver 4th Eric van de Poele (Rd 6)Spa 24h endurance driver NC 2 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Miguel Ramos Christian MontanariSpa 24h endurance drivers: Alessandro Pier Guidi / Mika Salo ZHUDNF SIL6th BUC6th MON4th OSCDNF SPADNF ADR5th BRN5th NOG3rd ZOLDNF — 4th 2008 Vitaphone Racing Team 1 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Michael Bartels Andrea BertoliniSpa 24h endurance drivers: Eric van de Poele / Stéphane Sarrazin GT1 SIL3rd MON2nd ADR1st OSC5th SPA1st BUC4th BRN2nd NOG3rd ZOL1st SLU2nd — 1st 1st 2 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Miguel Ramos Alexandre NegrãoSpa 24h endurance drivers: Alessandro Pier Guidi / Stéphane Lémeret SIL5th MON4th ADR3rd OSCDNF SPADNF BUCDNF BRN3rd NOG1st ZOL4th SLUDNF — 4th Team Vitasystems 17 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Matteo Bobbi Pedro Lamy — — — — — — — — ZOL8th — — 25th 11th 2009 Vitaphone Racing Team 1 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Michael Bartels Andrea BertoliniSpa 24h endurance drivers: Stéphane Sarrazin / Alexandre Negrão GT1 SIL2nd ADR2nd OSC1st SPA2nd HUN4th ALG4th RIC3rd ZOL5th — — — 1st 1st 2 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Miguel Ramos Alex MüllerSpa 24h endurance drivers: Eric van de Poele / Pedro Lamy SILDNF ADR3rd OSC4th SPADNF HUN1st ALGDNF RICDNF — — — — 6th 33 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Alessandro Pier Guidi Stéphane LémeretSpa 24h endurance drivers: Carl Rosenblad / Vincent Vosse — — — SPA2nd — — — — — — — 8th

Complete FIA GT1 World Championship results Year Entrant Car Engine Tyres Drivers R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10 2010 Vitaphone Racing Team 1 Maserati MC12 GT1 Maserati 6.0L V12 Michael Bartels Andrea Bertolini ABU3 ABU4 SIL3 SIL7 BRN1 BRN5 PRT1 PRT1 SPARet SPA7 NÜR10 NÜR6 ALG2 ALG1 NAV7 NAV6 INT8 INT9 SAN12 SAN7 1st 1st 2 Enrique Bernoldi ABURet ABU6 SIL9 SIL15 BRN7 BRN6 PRT5 PRTRet SPA11 SPA4 NÜR7 NÜR12 ALG13 ALGRet NAVRet NAV12 INT4 INT1 SAN16 SAN14 15th Miguel Ramos 21st Alexandre Negrão INT4 INT1 24th 2011: Vitaphone Racing Team did not participate 2012 Vita4One Racing Team 17 BMW Z4 GT3 BMW 4.4L V8 Mathias Lauda Nikolaus Mayr-Melnhof NOG12 NOG11 ZOL5 ZOL14 NAV7 NAV5 SVK10 SVK7 ALG5 ALG8 SVK2 SVK3 MOS7 MOS10 NÜR9 NÜR5 DON8 DONRet — 12th 18 Michael Bartels Yelmer Buurman NOG11 NOG10 ZOL1 ZOL2 NAV3 NAV4 SVK3 SVK1 ALG2 ALG5 SVK1 SVK1 MOS10 MOS7 NÜR4 NÜR4 DON9 DON9 — 3rd 4th

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