Giovanardi dominates at Paul Ricard

Fabrizio Giovanardi dominated at Paul Ricard in the latest round of the SuperStars series, in the Porsche Panamara’s second race meeting.

Fabrizio Giovanardi took a clean sweep of two wins at the Paul Ricard – Le Castellet circuit, a track he had never raced at before. After claiming pole position, the N.Technology driver went on to win two very eventful races.

The first race saw Giovanardi maintain the lead from pole throughout, as Luigi Ferrara followed him in the CAAL Racing Mercedes, after getting past Francesco Sini and Gianni Morbidelli.

A good fight ensued as Sini had to fend off the attacks of the Mercedes of Max Pigoli and Johnny Herbert in the Motorzone Chevrolet Lumina, whilst Giovanardi pulled away from the rest of the field.

The two Jaguars, in the hands of Riccardo Romagnoli and Luciano Linossi, managed to get past Herbert, but Romagnoli had to later park his Jaguar XF on the side of the road with a broken gearbox.

In the meantime, series lead Thomas Biagi in the BMW Team Italia M3, lied in tenth, struggling with a broken splitter.

A clash between Sandro Bettini’s Maserati and Mauro Cesari’s Chrysler caused the deployment of the safety car, which backed up the field.

The green flag was only waived with one lap remaining.

Luigi Ferrara immediately went on the attack to try and pass Giovanardi, who resisted and maintained his position. With a few corners remaining, Francesco Sini in the Romeo Ferraris Mercedes, turned Ferrara into a spin who in turn spun and was collected by Sini’s teammate, Max Pigoli.

The incident left Gianni Morbidelli in second, and Johnny Herbert in the final podium spot. Alberto Cola in the Audi ended up in fourth, ahead of Mercedes’ Romanini and series leader Thomas Biagi.

N.Technology also celebrated their 150th win in their racing history with this victory.

In race two, Ivan Tramontozzi in the Movisport BMW M3 passed pole sitter Stefano Gabellini’s Team BMW Italia M3 to take the lead, whilst Biagi stayed in third.

During the first lap Gabellini later slipped down the order as Biagi took second, and Giovanardi in the Panamera moved up to third, having started eighth.

On the second lap the two-time BTCC champion overtook Thomas Biagi for second, and then took the lead on the following lap.

On lap 4, Diego Romanini in the CAAL Racing Mercedes spun and was collected by Gianni Morbidelli.

The safety car was deployed again, and at the restart Pigoli passed Biagi for third. The Romeo Ferraris driver then spun as he tried to pass Tramontozzi for second and fell down the order.

Towards the end of the race, with three laps to go, Giovanardi appeared in trouble and was fell behind Tramontozzi. The Porsche driver managed to take the lead back from Tramontozzi, who was also passed by Thomas Biagi and Johnny Herbert, who would retire on the final lap with a mechanical problem.

Fabrizio Giovanardi went on to take another win from Thomas Biagi, who extended his lead in the championship.

Giovanardi on his first appearance in the International SuperStars Series category, jumps to seventh in the championship, and moves up to joint sixth in the Italian standings