Gianni Morbidelli makes it four in a row at Portimão
Gianni Morbidelli won the second heat in Portimão after a spectacular drive from eighth. The Audi Sport Italia driver finished ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi’s Mercedes C63 AMG and Luigi Ferrara, who managed to put his C63 AMG Coupé on the podium despite a problem with his left wrist.
At the start Roma Racing’s Ferrara took the lead ahead of Giovanni Berton’s Team Dinamic BMW and Francesco Sini’s Solaris Motorsport Chevrolet Camaro. The big show was on in the mid-field as Gianni Morbidelli made his way up the order along with Thomas Biagi’s Romeo Ferraris Mercedes C63 AMG.
On lap two Vitantonio Liuzzi overtook both Sini and Berton and started chasing down Ferrara for the lead. On the same lap a brake problem stopped Fabrizio Giovanardi’s Porsche Panamera as the two-time BTCC champion was trying to work his way through the field from the back, after having also retired in race one.
Ferrara kept Liuzzi under control until lap seven, when the works Mercedes started to put pressure on the sister coupé. The fight between the two allowed Gianni Morbidelli and Thomas Biagi to close up on the leading duo, and the four cars started a thrilling fight.
Liuzzi managed to overtake Ferrara, but Morbidelli was now right behind him. The leaders split up in two groups, with the Mercedes and the Audi fighting for the lead and Ferrara defending from Biagi for third.
With three laps to go Morbidelli managed to take the lead with a clean move on Liuzzi and maintained it until the end. The Mercedes kept in touch with the Audi but was never able to fight back. Meanwhile, right behind the leading duo, Ferrara and Biagi kept the fight alive until the flag, but the Romeo Ferraris driver was not able to find his way past the driver from Bari.
The race finished with Morbidelli taking his fourth win in a row ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Luigi Ferrara. Biagi finished in fourth, retaining the lead of the championship. The three BMWs of Giovanni Berton, Max Mugelli and Mauro Trentin took the places from fifth to seventh in the order, while Andrea Bacci’s Mercedes, Alessandro Battaglin’s Audi RS 4 and Gianni Giudici’s M3 E92 rounded out the top ten.
Biagi’s lead of the championship is now reduced to three points ahead of Gianni Morbidelli, whose run of four consecutive wins has put him right back into the title hunt. Liuzzi is in third, 23 points behind his team-mate, while Berton is in fourth, 34 points shy of the lead.
The Superstars Series will be back on track in a month with the last event outside Italy at Donington Park, UK. The remaining two events of the season will be held at Imola and Vallelunga.
