Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale review

Left-field supercar gets more power, more focused suspension and lots of aero for this big money special edition

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The race championship that has inspired this Maserati MC20 GT2 Stradale supercar is called the GT2 European Series, which sounds very, very fast – but that’s somewhat misleading.

The cars in this mostly amateur endeavour sit somewhere between GT3 and GT4 machinery in terms of their performance, suiting mildly uprated road cars. Those homologated include the Porsche 911, KTM X-Bow and Mercedes-AMG GT.

The Maserati MC20 was made racy in 2023 and has since won quite a few times.

Now Maserati has created a limited-edition roadgoing variant to mark the brand’s return to the race track. And while the European GT2 series isn’t super professional international GT racing, there is at least an identifiable link between the race and road cars.

The new MC20 GT2 Stradale, limited to 914 units and coming in £46,000 more expensive than standard, at £273,510, gets the kind of changes that make it a more capable but also more dependable track car. 

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DESIGN & STYLING

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“This car needs to breathe a lot,“ designer Francesco Morosi says about its uprated cooling, for which he has added a larger front grille and 16% bigger rear wing vents, which let 5% more airflow to the main radiator and increase intercooler performance by 20%. Other sculpting and vents let twice as much heat get out of the GT2 Stradale as the standard MC20. Over 10 laps of Stellantis’s Balocco test track, the brake fluid stays 40deg C cooler.

Power from the twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 is up by only 10bhp to 631bhp, all achieved electronically. The additional cooling “avoids any deterioration in performance” in a car that, I suspect unlike the standard MC20, could spend a reasonable proportion of its time on circuit.

To that end, there’s more downforce too. The three-stage adjustable big rear wing most obviously, but there’s a new rear diffuser and front splitter, too, plus different underbody treatment. At 174mph, the front wheels will have 130kg of downforce and the rear between 190kg and 370kg, depending on wing position, for a maximum of 500kg total. Impressively, the drag coefficient is unchanged at 0.38Cd, leaving the top speed unchanged at 201mph.

A fair bit of weight – up to 60kg – has come out of the MC20 too. Most of the thanks for that – 20kg worth – goes to the seats, which are bespoke carbon bre buckets from Sabelt (although you can spec the standard ones back in if you want. Michelin Cup 2R tyres (245/35 R20 front, 305/30 R20 rear) save 5kg, 5kg of carpets have been removed and 2kg of centre console material has been shaved off.

INTERIOR

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Inside, Maserati has heavily used Alcantara to limit reflections, a method used to apparent good effect in the race car and one of which I wholly approve.

The new carbonfibre seats give a lower, more upright driving position but were short of lower back support for me, noticeable on the road but not so much on track, where their lateral support is really welcome.

The steering wheel gets little shift lights dotted ever so neatly in the rim. It's backed by fixed gearshfit paddles, behing which are the column stalks for the indicators and wipers, making it a bit of a stretch, but all of these things are a compromise one way or another: Porsche attaches smaller paddles to the wheel, while Ferrari uses fixed paddles so puts the indicators and wipers on the wheel, which is less satisfactory. 

Here the drive mode selector is on the centre console but has been moved upwards and forwards to make it easier to grab while you’re paying attention to driving. I’m pro this too.

Otherwise the GT2 Stradale's cabin is much like the regular MC20's: butterfly doors to get in, a great view out forwards and a rearward view so restricted that there's a camera instead of a mirror. 

There's a small boot behind the engine bay, good for a weekend's luggage, although it can get warm.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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The V6 is mechanically unchanged from the standard MC20, but it makes 10bhp more, 631bhp at 7500rpm, owing to new mapping.

One suspects it wouldn't be able to perform consistently on track in hot weather if it weren't for the huge amounts of additional cooling allowed by the new bodywork addenda.

Peak torque comes in quite early, from just 3000rpm, thanks to the turbos spooling and getting going, but in the mid-range or low-revs they do so with noticeable lag. Although this is still a relatively torquey and not a heavy car, so it's not like it feels sluggish even if you do get caught in the wrong gear.

At higher revs, the turbos are spinning freely and often so throttle response is great.

The car sounds pretty good too: not as soulful as Maseratis of yore but by modern standards not so bad. An optional titanium exhaust (track only, ahem), will follow later this year.

Response from the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox is good. This too is mechanically unchanged from the MC20, but if you go into the raciest Corsa drive modes, its shifts are quickened significantly, punching through with a proper shove in the back. I imagine that's no quicker than just a very rapid and smooth gearchange, but the aggressive kick in the back makes it feel faster.

Braking is by carbon-ceramic discs, which have a reasonable feel at both low and high pedal pressures, if behind on the best nuances of, say, a Ferrari or Porsche left pedal.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The springs are around 10% stiffer, but otherwise the dynamics hardware is fundamentally unchanged, just retuned.

As standard, like the regular MC20, you get a mechanical limited-slip differential but an electronically controlled one, which is all we’ve ever tried, is optional.

You can move through drive modes to firm the dampers, which also punches gearshifts through harder and slackens off the driver aids. The most lax mode turns off the stability and traction control, makes the diff really aggressive and knocks the ABS intervention back to the minimum that Maserati can get away with within road regulations.

We like the regular MC20 here. It’s a relaxed and honest supercar that rides well, and tightening up the springs a little really doesn’t spoil that. Body control is good too, even in the slackest damper modes. By modern standards, with a kerb weight probably in the 1500kgs (Maserati quotes only a dry weight, annoyingly, of 1365kg), this isn’t a heavy car.

Noise levels are higher than standard, and with stones pinging up from the underside yet still pliant suspension, there’s something of the old Ferrari 488 Pista about it, albeit with a more boosty engine and calmer steering. Very satisfying, very easy to get along with.

On track, largely the same is true. The GT2 Stradale feels less raw than the Porsche 911 GT3 or one of the more extreme last Lamborghini Huracáns. It’s more approachable, rides kerbs with genuine absorbance and has small amounts of roll and pitch, even in its firmest suspension setting, but allows the driver to develop a flow with it, rewarding smooth inputs rather than aggressive ones.

In steady-state cornering, it will understeer slightly, as I suppose it should. You can power through it or, less scruffy and more satisfying, trail brake to get the nose more planted on corner entry. 

With no electrical assistance weighing it down or an aggressively hooked-up differential, I found it a real pleasure on track.

VERDICT

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The regular MC20 is a left-field choice, and I don’t suppose this GT2 Stradale version has become any more mainstream, limited as it is in numbers and high as it is on price. But with all the honesty of the standard car and a bit more focus, it's no less desirable than ever.

 

Matt Prior

Matt Prior
Title: Editor-at-large

Matt is Autocar’s lead features writer and presenter, is the main face of Autocar’s YouTube channel, presents the My Week In Cars podcast and has written his weekly column, Tester’s Notes, since 2013.

Matt is an automotive engineer who has been writing and talking about cars since 1997. He joined Autocar in 2005 as deputy road test editor, prior to which he was road test editor and world rally editor for Channel 4’s automotive website, 4Car. 

Into all things engineering and automotive from any era, Matt is as comfortable regularly contributing to sibling titles Move Electric and Classic & Sports Car as he is writing for Autocar. He has a racing licence, and some malfunctioning classic cars and motorbikes.