Rangoni leads Mercedes 1-2-3 in spectacular race two
Luca Rangoni won the second race of the day in Misano, in a spectacular race full of drama. Rangoni won ahead of Johnny Herbert and Luigi Ferrara, making it a Mercedes 1-2-3.
At the start, poleman Alberto Cerqui held the lead ahead of Rangoni, Ferrara and Biagi, who had another bad start. Pigoli and Bertolini followed very closely and overtook the BMW Italia driver for fourth on the third lap, just as Rangoni passed Cerqui for the lead.
Later in the lap Pigoli tried to attack Ferrara for third, but the two collided and went off. The Romeo Ferraris driver slipped down to seventh, while Ferrara was in tenth after the incident. As a result of the collision, Pigoli was handed a black & white flag.
On the fourth lap things had changed as a result of the confusion caused by the incident between Pigoli and Ferrara; Rangoni was now leading ahead of Cerqui, Bertolini, Herbert and Montanari. One lap later Ferrara was already up to sixth, while Montanari and Pigoli retired.
On lap nine the Safety Car was deployed whilst Riccardo Bossi’s Audi RS4 was recovered, which had retired with an engine failure.
At the restart, Herbert passed Bertolini for third, but soon dropped down the order due with technical problems. The Brit was still able to continue.
During the following lap, Bertolini and Biagi passed Cerqui. Biagi then tried to pass Bertolini, but couldn’t pass the Maserati.
On the last of the race, Biagi attacked Bertolini at Quercia and the two collided. The two spun and Cerqui and Ferrara elected to go on the outside of the corner, whereas Herbert and Gabellini went on the inside and took advantage of the confusion generated by the crash.
The situation now saw Rangoni comfortably leading ahead of Herbert, Cerqui, Ferrara and Gabellini. More drama was to come as Ferrara tapped Cerqui and managed to overtake him for third, therefore claiming a podium spot.
Ferrara extends his championship lead to 23 points over Cerqui, who now moves up to second in the standings.
Bertolini and Biagi lie in third and fourth respectively, 25 and 26 points shy of Ferrara. Pigoli’s double DNF means he is now 52 points behind the leader.
The next Superstars International Series race will be held at Spa-Francorchamps on August 7th.
