Zolder Superstars: Gianni Morbidelli wins, Laurens Vanthoor stars

Starting from pole position on a greasy circuit, Morbidelli's only challenge was holding off the more powerful Mercedes of Tonio Liuzzi on the run down to the first corner.

Having successfully held on to the lead, he then let the four-wheel-drive Audi Sport Italia RS5 do the rest of the work, pulling 2.8 seconds on the field on the first lap alone, before leading all the way to victory.

Vanthoor made it an Audi one-two, but his race was far less straightforward.

With a transmission problem in qualifying leaving him starting off the back row, the Zolder local had it all to do in the 25-minute race, and he wasted little time.

By the end of the first lap, he was 10th. By the end of the second lap, he was sixth. With eight minutes of the race left to run, he was in second and catching Morbidelli.

In the end it was not enough to win, but it was still the most impressive drive of the race.

Luigi Ferrara's Roma Racing Mercedes was the best of the rear-wheel-drive cars, finishing a lonely third, ahead of impressive debutant Renaud Kuppens' Scuderia Giudici BMW.

Liuzzi had a quiet race on his way to fifth, with Raffaele Giammaria and Fabrizio Giovanardi following him home.

Giovanni Berton, Thomas Biagi and Nicola Larini rounded out the top 10.

Results - 16 laps:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Gianni Morbidelli    Audi Italia        27m50.559s
 2.  Laurens Vanthoor     Audi Italia           +7.422s
 3.  Luigi Ferrara        Roma Mercedes        +13.066s
 4.  Renaud Kuppens       Giudici BMW          +18.690s
 5.  Tonio Liuzzi         Ferraris Mercedes    +19.150s
 6.  Raffaele Giammaria   CAAL Mercedes        +27.961s
 7.  Fabrizio Giovanardi  Petri Porsche        +36.741s
 8.  Giovanni Berton      Dinamic BMW          +37.273s
 9.  Thomas Biagi         Ferraris Mercedes    +37.288s
10.  Nicola Larini        Petri Porsche        +40.531s
11.  Mimmo Schiattarella  Solaris Chevrolet    +43.961s
12.  Max Mugelli          Dinamic BMW          +44.480s
13.  Andrea Bacci         CAAL Mercedes      +1m06.848s
14.  Mauro Trentin        Dinamic BMW        +1m07.383s
15.  Roberto Benedetti    RC Cadillac            +1 lap

Retirements:

     Francesco Sini       Solaris Chevrolet      7 laps
     Gianni Giudici       Giudici BMW            6 laps
     Marco Cassara        Roma Mercedes          0 laps