Gianni Morbidelli made it a double win for Audi, again dominating ahead of championship leader Johan Kristoffersson to make it a 1-2 for the German manufacturer. Vitantonio Liuzzi completed the podium for CAAL Racing.
At the start Andrea Larini retained the lead, as the close pack determined a first lap crash between Max Pigoli, Max Mugelli and Stefano Gabellini. The three had to retire due to the accident and the Safety Car was deployed.
At the restart Liuzzi was leading ahead of Thomas Biagi after Andrea Larini made a quick stop in the pitlane during the Safety Car period. However, Kristoffersson and Morbidelli were quicker than anyone and soon found themselves in first and second place respectively.
The two started fighting towards the end of the race, the Swede hardly resisting to the Italian’s attacks. Kristoffersson later decided to let his team-mate through after he realized the former Grand Prix driver was quicker, to avoid any contact during the battle.
More drama was to come as Tom Onslow-Cole and Johnny Herbert made contact, with the Jaguar driver having to retire. Herbert managed to go on to take seventh in his Maserati, although the performance of his Quattroporte appeared not to be the same after the crash at the final hairpin.
Liuzzi took the podium ahead of a consistent Francesco Sini, with Paolo Meloni’s BMW M3 E90 managing a very positive fifth place ahead of Thomas Biagi. Herbert came home seventh ahead of Larini, who was then demoted to eleventh after being penalized with 25 seconds after the race, just as Sandro Bettini who finished tenth.
Andrea Boffo was therefore promoted to eighth ahead of Mauro Cesari’s Maserati and Nico Caldarola’s Mercedes C63 AMG. Thomas Schöffler, who had looked strong yesterday, had to retire before the race even started as his car failed to start.
Kristoffersson currently leads the championship with 85 points ahead of Thomas Biagi, 16 points behind the Swede. Liuzzi managed to retain third, 21 points shy of Kristoffersson. However the Mercedes driver now leads Morbidelli by a mere point, as the Italian took a clean sweep of victories at Donington.
Larini and Pigoli are now 37 and 40 points behind the leader respectively, after enduring a tough weekend at Donington.
Superstars resumes at Mugello in two weeks.
