BMW and Mercedes on top at Imola

The Italian track Imola hosted the third and fourth round of the Superstars series. After having dominated the premiere at Monza, Mercedes struggled during a wet qualifying session, leaving the pole position to the four wheel drive Audi RS4 of Hop Mobile Audi Sport Italia.

Cola claimed his maiden pole position in the series, ahead of team-mates Dionisio and Papini. Behind them were five BMW M3 E92, with Morbidelli leading the Bavarian manufacturer’s squad. Series leader Ferrara was tenth, while Pigoli thirteenth.

In race one former Formula One driver Morbidelli took the best start, climing up to second, almost immediately overtaking Cola. Meanwhile Biagi and Herbert overtook many cars, ending up third and fourth respectively behind the Audi RS4 of Cola.

The Hop Mobile Audi Sport Italia driver made a mistake on lap five at the Villeneuve chicane, giving up his position to Biagi and Herbert. The BMW driver immediately started putting pressure on his team-mate Morbidelli and in the end resolved to try to overtake him on lap seven at the Rivazza corner, touching his fellow BMW driver’s car and taking the lead. The maneuver cost Morbidelli another three places, which meant slipping down to fifth.

Withstanding Herbert’s attempts to overtake, Biagi managed to take BMW’s first win of the season, ahead of the Chevrolet Lumina. Alberto Cola scored his maiden podium in just his second race in the series, while Pigoli and Morbidelli completed the top five.

Ferrara had looked strong in the early stages of the race, but the CAAL Racing driver made a mistake and hit the barriers just before Tamburello, which led him to retire. At the end of the race Herbert stopped after hearing a “strange noise” coming from the back of his Lumina: he would later be forced to stay into the pits for the second race.

Results race one: 1. Biagi (BMW M3 E92) 14 giri in 26’59”567; 2. Herbert (Chevrolet Lumina CR8) a 0”238; 3. Cola (Audi RS4) a 1”449; 4. Pigoli (Mercedes C63 AMG) a 5”569; 5. Morbidelli (BMW M3 E92) a 7”896.

In race two, Herbert’s team-mate, Filippo Zadotti, was supposed to start from pole because of the reverse grid. A power steering problem forced him to go back to the pits.

Del Castello got a great start and jumped to first position, ahead of Pigoli and Morbidelli. Cressoni was fourth in his Jaguar, ahead of Papini, Sini, Biagi and Cola.

It was not until lap four that Pigoli managed to overtake the very experienced Del Castello. The Mercedes driver tried to pull away, which he managed to do for a few laps, but on lap nine Del Castello was able to fight back for the lead.

The Cadillac driver tried to overtake Pigoli on the outside of the Tamburello chicane, but he hit the Mercedes with his left front tyre, getting a puncture that forced him back into the pits.


Morbidelli took advantage of the fight and started to attack Pigoli, but not only did he not manage to pass his Mercedes rival: his team-mate Biagi got very near him and started putting pressure again on Morbidelli.

The former F1-driver ended up making a mistake at the Tamburello chicane, ending up into the gravel and retiring. Biagi inherited second place, while Cola had another great race managing to climb up to third. Behind them was Cressoni’s Jaguar XF, ahead of former championship leader Ferrara and series rookie Montanari.

Ferrara’s team-mate Sini inherited fifth place, ahead of Caldarola, Cappellari and Ferrara himself. Romagnoli and former skiing champion Ghedina rounded up the top ten, with Montanari just behind in eleventh.

Results race two: 1. Pigoli (Mercedes C63 AMG) 15 giri in 28’33”673; 2. Biagi (BMW M3 E92) a 0″730; 3. Cola (Audi RS4) a 19″903; 4. Cressoni (Jaguar XF) a 19″903; 5. Sini (Mercedes C63 AMG) a 32″214.

The championship status after the fourth race of the season: Pigoli leads the championship with 60 points, ahead of Biagi (57) and former leader Luigi Ferrara (46). Triple series champion and bookies’ favorite Morbidelli has so far only got 20 points in four races and the gap starts to be quite considerable. The Italian Superstars Series will resumes at Vallelunga in three weeks time.