Cerqui dominates for maiden Superstars win
Alberto Cerqui took a dominant win in the first race of the day at Misano. The Team BMW Italia driver retained the lead at the start and never let it go, also clocking the best lap during the race. Luigi Ferrara came home second ahead of Thomas Biagi, who completed the podium.
At the start Cerqui was followed by Luigi Ferrara, Luca Rangoni, Thomas Biagi and Max Pigoli. Johnny Herbert had a great start and went from tenth to sixth, and went on to pass his team-mate Pigoli soon after.
On the following lap Biagi exploited a mistake by Rangoni and overtook the Mercedes driver for third. The Team BMW Italia driver was passed again by the former World Touring Car Championship driver two laps later.
Halfway through the race Cerqui had opened a big gap, while Ferrara led the battle for second, with Rangoni and Biagi right behind him and Herbert a little further behind, as his team-mate Pigoli had to park the car with a technical problem.
On lap 10 Rangoni started suffering from tyre problems and gave the crowd some spectacular slides. However, Biagi closed in on him more and more, until he lost grip underbraking and Biagi overtook him on lap 13. The following lap saw the Mercedes driver lose one more place in favour of Johnny Herbert, who therefore went up to fourth after a consistent and solid race.
Alberto Cerqui took his maiden win in the Superstars Series, dominating the whole race. Ferrara came home second to score important points in the championship and extend his lead. Thomas Biagi completed the podium ahead of Johnny Herbert, who had an impressive race, coming from tenth on the grid to fourth under the chequered flag.
Rangoni came home fifth after battling for podium, ahead of Bertolini, Romagnoli and Dromedari. Hernàndez put in a very strong performance, coming from 20th on the grid to and impressive ninth. Armetta, who spun with two laps to go, rounded up the top ten.
Luigi Ferrara extended his lead in the championship to 13 points from Andrea Bertolini. Biagi’s third place means he is now only one point behind the Maserati in the championship. Cerqui’s strong win puts him up to fourth and into the championship battle, although 21 shy of Ferrara. Max Pigoli’s second no points score this season puts him down to fifth, forty points behind Ferrara.
The second race will start at 16:40 (Local time).
