Photo: Superstars

Thomas Biagi dominates at Brno with a Mercedes 1-2

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Thomas Biagi took a lights to flag win in the first race in Brno as the race was almost cut by a half due to a long Safety Car period triggered by an accident at the start. Luigi Ferrara took his best result of the season with second in his Mercedes C63 AMG Coupè, while Giovanni Berton gave BMW its first podium of 2013 by claiming third.

For many of the drivers the race was cut short after a first-corner accident, which saw five drivers out of contention due to a contact. Massimiliano Fantini’s Porsche and Edoardo Piscopo’s BMW were out immediately, while Christian Klien, Roberto Benedetti and Mauro Trentin retired later due to the consequences of the accident.

Fabrizio Giovanardi had a poor start and slipped down to eighth as Diabolik had a great getaway and went up to fifth. The Safety Car was deployed as Thomas Biagi led team-mate Liuzzi, Ferrara, Berton, Diabolik, Morbidelli, Sini and Giovanardi who rounded up the top ten.

After more than ten minutes behind the Safety Car, Diabolik lost a lot of time and let the top five drivers go, leaving Francesco Sini and Giovanardi, who overtook him almost immediately, without a chance to reach the top five.

Biagi continued to lead the race as Giovanardi went up to sixth by passing Sini’s Camaro. The Porsche was however too far from the top drivers to be able to mount any challenges. With three laps to go, more drama was to come as Gianni Morbidelli’s Audi RS5 slowed down to a halt due to a technical problem and Liuzzi lost three places from second down to fifth, taking benefit from Gianni Morbidelli’s retirement to go up to fourth and stay there until the end of the race.

Biagi won ahead of Ferrara, giving Mercedes a 1-2, while Giovanni Berton pulled off a lovely drive to reach the podium in third, holding off the last gasp tries to overtake by Vitantonio Liuzzi. Giovanardi gave Porsche its first points of the season, ahead of Sini’s Chevrolet Camaro, Max Mugelli’s BMW and Diabolik in his Jaguar, who will lead the field for the second race.

Next up for the Superstars Series is the second heat, which starts at 16.10 CET.