Niccolò Mercatali takes home win at Mugello

Niccolò Mercatali won the second race at Mugello, taking BMW’s first win this season. The local hero came home ahead of Race 1 winner Nicola Baldan’s Mercedes C63 AMG Coupé, with Domenico Schiattarella’s Chevrolet Lumina completing the podium.

The entertaining race started with a great get-away from Mercatali, who took the lead ahead of Schiattarella, Ermanno Dionisio’s Audi and pole-sitter Leonardo Baccarelli. As Dionisio tried to overtake Schiattarella’s Chevroelt, the two made contact, with Schiattarella spinning off as a consequence. The Solaris Motorsport driver rejoined in seventh, just ahead of team-mate Francesco Sini. Audi Sport Italia driver Tomas Kostka was also involved in a incident with Baccarelli as he fought to charge through the field, resulting in an off for both at the last corner.

Shortly after, Schiattarella pulled off a great move at the first corner by passing Stancheris’s Audi, and Mugelli and Copetti’s BMWs, putting himself in fourth. Dionisio and Mercatali started fighting for the lead, but the battle was stopped as the Safety Car was deployed to recover Sini’s Chevrolet Lumina, which had crashed heavily but with Sini able to get out of the car without injuries

At the restart, Baldan, Dionisio and Schiattarella were involbed an entertaining fight, which lasted over half a lap as the Audi and the Chevrolet were side by side and glued to the rear bumper of the C63 AMG Coupé. During the battle Mercatali built a crucial gap over the Mercedes as further back Maurizio Copetti and Davide Stancheris fought hard for fifth.

Despite an interesting catch up in the last few laps, Baldan was not able to keep up with Mercatali on the last lap and ended up second behind the local hero. Schiattarella and Dionisio fought hard for third, with the former Grand Prix driver taking the final podium spot. Dionisio later fell back with Mugelli taking fourth, triggering a fantastic fight for fifth, finished with three cars crossing the line almost together as Stancheris and Dionisio finished just a thousandth of a second apart, and Copetti just missing out on passing both cars right on the line. Tomas Kostka led a damaged Audi RS 5 to eighth, with Giacon the last classified driver in ninth.

The EUROV8 Series will now enjoy a month’s break with Baldan as the new championship leader. The series is scheduled to resume at Brno on June, 22nd.