Gianni Morbidelli wins at Donington Park to share points lead

Audi Sport Italia’s Gianni Morbidelli won the second race of the day at Donington Park to move into the joint lead of the championship with Romeo Ferraris’ Thomas Biagi, whilst Vitantonio Liuzzi retired without completing a lap.

The MRT Lexus of Diego Romanini and the Chevrolet Camaro of Francesco Sini didn’t take part in the race, with Sini’s car damaged after its race one incident with Andrea Bacci, and Romanini’s Lexus suffering with a terminal engine failure.

Also missing the start was Vitantonio Liuzzi. The Romeo Ferraris driver pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap with a mechanical issue and retired from the race, severely denting the former Formula 1 driver’s title charge.

Liuzzi’s team-mate Biagi however made a fantastic start from sixth on the grid, which saw the 37-year-old leap into the lead from in his Mercedes C63 AMG, with Morbidelli moving into second place in his Audi RS 5 in short order, passing Max Mugelli’s Team Dinamic BMW at Coppice on lap one.

Colin Turkington was making progress in his Scuderia Giudici BMW from tenth on the grid, passing Domino Schiattarella’s Chevrolet Lumina at Melbourne on lap four for eighth, even though Schiattarella was due to serve a drive-through penalty for a false start in the sole Solaris Motorsport car. The Northern Irishman followed this up with a pass on Andrea Bacci, again at Melbourne on lap eight, and then passing Mauro Trentin’s BMW into Redgate for what was now fifth following Luigi Ferrara’s retirement, with the race one winner pulling into the pits with a recurrence of a water pump problem.

Biagi was being hounded by Morbidelli’s Audi throughout the first half of the race, with the Audi driver never more than a second behind Biagi’s Mercedes. Morbidelli left it to lap ten to pounce, first as Biagi went wide at Melbourne which allowed Morbidelli the chance to get a run around the outside up into the final corner, but Biagi was able to hold on to the lead across the line, before Morbidelli then dived down the inside at Redgate and took the lead.

The Italian then built up a nine second gap ahead of Biagi before the end of the race, with Biagi under threat on the final lap from Mugelli’s BMW, whilst Turkington’s car developed a problem on the final lap and he was forced to relinquish fifth place to the other Dinamic BMW of Trentin.

Morbidelli’s win, with Biagi scoring the point for fastest lap, means the two drivers are now tied for the lead of the International Drivers’ standings on 173 points, whilst Giovanni Berton now moves up to third ahead of Vitantonio Liuzzi on 136 following Liuzzi’s retirement.

The next round of the championship is at Imola on September 29th.