Gianni Morbidelli delighted with ‘perfect race’ at Donington Park
Audi Sport Italia’s Gianni Morbidelli has moved into the joint lead of the Superstars Series after taking his fifth win in six races yesterday at Donington Park, finishing ahead of title rival Thomas Biagi in race two.
Morbidelli crossed the line fourth in the first race of the day, running as high as third and closing in on the top two before slipping on oil, left by the MRT Lexus IS-F of Diego Romanini at the Melbourne Hairpin. In race two, a good start from fifth on the grid and the three-time Italian Superstars champion was up to second by the end of the first lap, before eventually passing Biagi’s Romeo Ferraris Mercedes for the lead at Redgate on lap 11 and pulling away to take a comfortable victory.
“It was a perfect race. I had a good start and made no mistakes,” he said to TouringCarTimes. “I just followed Biagi as I was just waiting for the right moment to try and pass without taking any risks, because here it’s very easy to make a mistake.
“In the hairpin we were side-by-side, and from there I realised it was the right moment to overtake him at the end of the straight as I was much faster than him under the brakes.”
Morbidelli’s win comes despite the application of new balance of performance measures for this round, which increased the weight of his Audi RS 5 by 40kg, on top of the 60kg of success ballast he was already to carry for the two victories in Portimao, as well as a reduced restrictor and increased ride height.
“I’m happy for me and for the work of the team, because after the balance of performance, we weren’t very optimistic, because for us, the penalty (we have) is just way too much.
“At the moment we’ve scored points and won races, we showed that we are the best combination of driver car and team.”
The Superstars Series now heads back to Italy for the final two rounds at Imola and Vallelunga, with Imola on September 29th and Vallelunga on October 13th.
“We cannot relax,” added Morbidelli. “We have to be focussed on the last part of the season, and concentrate because it’s not easy now. We have two difficult races in Italy, Imola will be very hard for us, but we’ll see.”
The results of yesterday’s races are provisional subject to a protest lodged by the Audi Sport Italia team over the aero packages of the two Romeo Ferraris Mercedes of Thomas Biagi and Vitantonio Liuzzi, which will be heard later this month. Should, in the most extreme case, both of the Mercedes be excluded from the results, Morbidelli’s points lead could be as much as 31 points over Biagi with 90 points remaining from the final four races.
2013 Superstars Series standings after Donington Park (Provisional)
