Biagi makes it a double as BMW dominate in Portimao
Thomas Biagi won the second race of the day in Portimao after taking a win in the first heat. Just like this morning, the 2010 Champion led a BMW Team Italia 1-2-3, with Cerqui taking another second ahead of Stefano Gabellini, who had to fight hard against the Mercedes to gain the last podium spot.
At the start Cerqui held on to the lead just like in Race 1. The BMW Team Italia rookie stayed ahead of Andrea Bertolini’s Swiss Team Maserati Quattroporte and his BMW team-mate Thomas Biagi.
On the first lap Bertolini passed Cerqui for the lead and started opening a gap, while Biagi had to defend from Luigi Ferrara’s CAAL Racing Mercedes Benz.
On lap two, Biagi overtook his BMW Team Italia team-mate Cerqui in a clean pass for second place and immediately launched an assault on Bertolini’s lead, closing down the Maserati and passing for the lead.
Meanwhile, the other BMW Team Italia M3 of Stefano Gabellini passed Johnny Herbert’s Romeo Ferraris Mercedes for fifth and started attacking Ferrara.
During the following laps Ferrara, Gabellini and Herbert entertained the crowd with a good battle for fourth, with the BMW M3 sandwiched between the two Mercedes.
On lap 7, Herbert made a fantastic move on Gabellini to reclaim fifth, but the Italian re-passed the Englishman just a few corners later. On the following lap Herbert went off the track at the first corner with a puncture, as Bertolini lost the lead again plagued with another tyre problem as in race one and had to retire from second place.
With Biagi and Cerqui comfortably leading, the most interesting fight was for third, with Ferrara defending hard from Gabellini and Max Pigoli’s Romeo Ferraris Mercedes.
Fabrizio Armetta lied in sixth ahead of Andrea Chiesa, Riccardo Romagnoli, Sergio Hernàndez and Andrea Dromedari.
On lap 10 Hernàndez retired, leaving the final points spot to Mauro Cesari’s MRT Chrysler 300C.
One lap later, Gabellini finally made a move on Ferrara and took the last podium spot, while Pigoli lost contact with the battle as he tried to save his tyres.
On the penultimate lap, Max Pigoli overtook Ferrara for fourth, while Armetta’s Chevrolet suffered with an engine problem, stopping along the track on the last lap, letting the Movisport BMW of Sandro Bettini into the top ten.
The race ended much like the first heat, with Biagi leading a BMW Team Italia 1-2-3 followed by team-mates Alberto Cerqui and Stefano Gabellini.
Romeo Ferraris Mercedes driver Max Pigoli came home fourth ahead of CAAL Racing Mercedes driver Luigi Ferrara, while Chiesa picked up a very good sixth for Maserati. Behind him Romagnoli, Dromedari, Cesari and Bettini rounded out the top ten positions.
Biagi now leads the standings with 76 points ahead of Ferrara (67) and Pigoli (57).
The championship will resume in two weeks in Misano, Italy.
