Luigi Ferrara leads championship after win in Valencia

Luigi Ferrara has taken the lead of the International Superstars Series after a race two victory and finishing runner up to the Maserati of Andrea Bertolini in race one.

Bertolini and Ferrara shared wins in Valencia this weekend as the new Maserati won its first race in the Series.

In Race 1, Bertolini’s Swiss Team Maserati Quattroport held the lead from the start, followed by Ferrara’s CAAL Racing Mercedes and Max Pigoli’s Romeo Ferraris Mercedes.

Not far behind them, contact between 2010 champion Thomas Biagi’s Team BMW Italia M3 and Francesco Sini in the Ferlito Motors’ Jaguar saw the latter forced on to the grass, and would go on to finish in 15th after being awarded a 25 second penalty.

Meanwhile the two Spanish BMWs of Isaac Tutumlu and Sergio Hernàndez showed a big improvement compared to the last weekend in Monza, holding their starting positions in sixth and eighth respectively with former Formula One driver Johnny Herbert seventh in his Romeo Ferraris Mercedes.

The British driver then started to make up positions, passing Tutumlu and Fabrizio Armetta’s Motorzone Chevrolet, finally ending up in sixth place.

Biagi’s performance steadily improved during the race after having slipped down to tenth early on. The BMW Italia driver was in fourth position by lap 12 and attacked Pigoli for two laps, finally passing the Romeo Ferraris driver to take the final step on the podium.

Andrea Bertolini and Luihi Ferrara had opened a huge gap in the meantime, and the pair were impossible to reach for the BMW Italia driver, with Maserati winning their first race in the Superstars Series.

In Race 2 Ferrara took the lead at the start, passing Bertolini, with the two ahead of Pigoli, Gabellini, Armetta and Sini.

Tutumlu’s car was damaged in a contact at the start and the Campos Racing driver had to retire.

Ferrara immediately opened a gap whilst Hernàndez retired in the second Campos Racing BMW. After ten minutes into the race, Herbert overtook Sini and reached sixth place, with the Jaguar driver now defending hard from Thomas Biagi’s BMW.

Biagi managed to get past with a clean move at the final corner. Meanwhile Armetta in the Motorzone Chevrolet made a mistake and dropped three places, taking a trip into the gravel at the last corner as Biagi was passing Sini.

The Chevrolet driver later made contact with Alberto Cerqui’s BMW Team Italia M3 and retired, after also being handed a drive through penalty.

A fight between Pigoli’s Mercedes and Stefano Gabellini’s BMW Team Italia car entertained the crowd, the BMW initially passing the Mercedes, but was overtaken a few laps later by the Mercedes driver, who went on to finish in third.

Bertolini closed the gap to Ferrara in the final stages and attacked for the lead; the CAAL Racing drover managed to resist.

In the final moments of the race, Johnny Herbert ended up in the gravel and had to retire, while a genuine and good fight between team-mates Biagi and Gabellini saw the 2010 champion gain fourth place.

Ferrara won his first race of the season, making it four different winners in four races for the International Superstars Series, with the next race of the series in Portimao in two weeks.

Championship Standings