Andrea Bertolini is, and always has been, one of the true nice guys of any paddock lucky enough to feature his name on the entry since the turn of the century. But in May 2025, he announced that one aspect of his presence would cease, as he stepped down from pro racing after the GT World Challenge Europe round at Monza.
Thankfully, the now 52-year-old Italian will remain a key figure in the Corse Clienti family and continue to work with Maserati, but his quarter-century in frontline GT racing is over.
Looking back, it was a truly spectacular career. After stepping aboard a GT car for the first time in 2000, the race wins and titles came regularly.
That process began in earnest after Andrea began his long association with Maserati. His development input into the Maserati MC12 saw him as an indispensable asset in the GT1 car’s racing adventures.
“I remember the first time I drove it, the first shakedown at Fiorano. Everyone was there,” he told DSC for a piece on the car back in 2020. “Jean Todt, Luca di Montezemolo, Giorgio Ascanelli, our CEO, everyone from Ferrari and Maserati.
“I did an out-in, and at the hairpin, I had a problem with the driveshaft on the first lap. But I was able, with the speed I carried, to get back to the garage. Nobody knew we had the issue. I told the radio guys we had to stop, and we spent three hours in the box.
“Jean (Todt) came over to me, and he said: ‘You broke the car already?’ I said: ‘Yes, boss, I broke the car…’ But we could laugh about it. After the problem was solved, we were able to immediately do a 480km run.
“Then we embarked on an impressive programme, every 15 days we would do four or five days of testing. We started at Fiorano, then went to Paul Ricard, then Monza, then Vallelunga. Mileage was king. It was the best training, many times I’d do 700-800km a day for four straight days all the time, doing tyre tests, aero tests, it was maximum attack.
“Back then, it was nice. I was leading the development of the F1 car from Ferrari and Maserati GT1 at the same time. I was always in a car I would be in Paul Ricard for the MC12 four days, go back Friday night, then Monday morning go to Fiorano for the Formula One tests.
“After all the testing, I told the guys my feedback, I said, “Guys, we are now four or five years in front of everyone in terms of the car. And it was true.”
His journey with the MC12 included three FIA GT Drivers Championships (2006, 2008, and 2009), followed by the inaugural FIA GT1 World Championship in 2010.
Amongst those championships were a pair of overall wins at the Spa 24 Hours in 2006 and 2008.
He followed up those wins with the MC12 with the 2012 International Superstars Championship in a Maserati Quattroporte.
The end of Maserati’s time in the sunshine saw Bertolini’s competition focus switch to Ferrari and AF Corse’s GTE Pro effort in the inaugural FIA WEC, with Bertolini taking the class win in the first-ever WEC race at Sebring.
There was a Pro-Am class win at the Spa 24 Hours that same year, too.
From there on in, there was a switch to Pro-Am racing, Bertolini’s steady hand and even temperament an ideal foil for some of Ferrari’s most valued customers.
2013 – 2015 saw him claim successive class championships in the Asian Le Mans Series, European Le Mans Series, and the FIA WEC.
That 2015 GTE AM Championship year with SMP Racing also saw Andrea take the win at Le Mans, a rare Asian, European, and World Endurance treble, and uniquely achieved in successive years.
He carried on to be a regular in SRO-rules GT3 racing too, with the 2020 Blancpain GT Series seeing him finish as runner-up with long-term driving partner Louis Machiels in the Pro-Am class.
The pair would combine in 2022 to take the class championship with Stefano Constatini, a title run that included a class win at the Spa 24 Hours, too.
But, despite being one of the most successful Italian Pro drivers in terms of Championship wins this century, it’s perhaps his contributions behind the scenes that have made him such an indispensable part of the Fiorano-based Corse Clienti ‘family’.
Bertolini has been a key development driver for Ferrari since his return from Maserati, most recently with the 296 GT3 and 499P Hypercar, amongst the cars to which his expertise has been applied.
The most extraordinary aspect of Andrea’s career usually happens behind the firmly closed gates of Fiorano, though.
There, he is entrusted with the shakedown running of pretty much every Ferrari F1 car from the ever-increasing F1 Clienti fleet of customer-owned F1 cars.
That has been a long-term role and gives rise to an incredible, and steadily increasing number that is now approaching 600 F1 shakedowns with an unrivalled variety of Ferrari F1 machinery.
The image below was his 500th back in 2022. (We’ll be running a video series to go with that achievement on DSC shortly.)
Add to that continuing roles in supporting the on-track efforts of Ferrari’s customer and factory drivers from trackside, and we’ll happily be seeing Andrea Bertolini in the paddock for many years to come.
“I will always be in motorsport,” he said ahead of his final race last year in Monza. “I will still be involved in all the development of our cars at Ferrari and Maserati. With all the guys, they keep me young.
“Back when I started, it was from zero. My family gave me lots of passion, but my father was not involved in motorsport. He just gave me the passion to avoid the stupid things that happen around the world and around your city.
“I was lucky. I was in the right place, in the right moment, with the right people, and I’ve enjoyed every single moment. Everyone can have a chance at something, but you have to be ready. You need discipline and to work hard.
“You can have the best talent in the world, but if you are not a hard worker, it’s hard to be on top for a long time. I want to give that passion to young drivers after me.”
Thanks for the on-track memories, Andrea.
Images courtesy of SRO, Ferrari and Maserati
