Photo: Superstars Media

Kristoffersson takes Vallelunga win and points lead

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Johan Kristoffersson won the second race at Vallelunga, making it two wins in one event. The Swede came home ahead of rookie Giovanni Berton and former Mercedes driver Max Mugelli, both in BMWs. Liuzzi only managed to a seventh place and lost the lead of the championship to Kristoffersson.

At the start, Berton’s BMW took the lead from the Swiss Team Maserati of Fisichella at Campagnano, while Kristoffersson managed to go up to fourth from eighth on the grid in his KMS Audi RS5. Fisichella was also the protagonist of contact with Camilo Zurcher at Semaforo, which was ‘given back’ by the Italian at the following corner, a contact for which he is still under investigation.

With Berton now leading from Liuzzi, Mugelli and Kristoffersson, it was time for the Swede to thrill the crowd. The Audi driver took two laps to overtake Mugelli and launched his assault to championship rival Liuzzi. With a clever move the Italian defended particularly well at Tornantino, saw Kristoffersson go off onto on the grass, but was able to rejoin without losing any places.

On the same lap Audi-driver Thomas Schöffler pulled a move on Fisichella and the BMW Team Dinamic car of Thomas Biagi, jumping up to fourth. Kristoffersson made a pass on Liuzzi at Roma and started chasing Berton for the lead, which he took the following lap.

Meanwhile Liuzzi started struggling more and more and eventually made two mistakes on lap 11 which meant Mugelli, Schoeffler, Biagi and Gianni Morbidelli all passed him on the eleventh lap. The Audi driver passed Biagi a couple of laps later as the BMW locked up at Cimini and went wide.

There was more drama as Morbidelli tried to overtake fellow Audi driver Schöffler for fourth and although a minor contact gave the illusion that one of the two would spin the two came out of the incident with just a few scratches on their Audis.

Today’s results mean that Kristoffersson now leads the championship with a ten point margin over Liuzzi. Biagi is a little more distant with a 29 point gap to the lead, while Morbidelli looks practically out of contention, 55 points shy.

Next up for the Superstars Series is the super-fast Pergusa track, where the Italian Superstars Series title will be awarded. The International Series will go down to the wire at Sentul in November.