Donington Park Superstars: Luigi Ferrara escapes oil slick to win
Luigi Ferrara finally broke through for his first Superstars International Series win of the year in race one at Donington Park
The Roma Racing Mercedes driver controlled the race, gapping fellow front-row starter Tonio Liuzzi at the start, and then doing the same again after a mid-race safety car period.
The only genuine threat to Ferrara's lead actually came from the MRT Lexus of Diego Romanini. With just a few minutes of the race remaining, Romanini's ISF 500 suffered a spectacular engine failure at the Melbourne hairpin, coating the circuit with oil.
Ferrara was the first to arrive on the scene, resulting in a half-spin.
Luckily, he was the least affected of the frontrunners. Tonio Liuzzi's Romeo Ferraris Mercedes, Gianni Morbidelli's Audi Sport Italia RS5 and Liuzzi's team-mate Thomas Biagi had been squabbling over second spot, only to hit the oil.
Liuzzi ran wide, Morbidelli spun, while Biagi lost time dodging the other two.
Meanwhile, Giovanni Berton was the big winner, the Dinamic BMW driver avoiding the carnage to go from fifth to second in the space of one corner.
While Berton was uncatchable over the remaining laps, Biagi, Liuzzi and Morbidelli continued their earlier battle, now for third place. In the end Biagi was able to hold on to third, with Morbidelli splitting the two Mercs.
Francesco Sini had a tough race that ended in the wall on the pit straight. While fighting over eighth spot with Andrea Bacci, Sini turned over the bonnet of his rival's Mercedes C63, which turned the Chevrolet Camaro straight into a spin that ended in the wall.
Briton Colin Turkington made a promising start to the race in his Scuderia Giudici BMW, running sixth in the early stages.
But just a few minutes from the finish he found himself in the gravel at McLeans, having copped a tap in the rear after running wide at the Old Hairpin.
Mauro Tentin will start the second race from pole position for Dinamic BMW, thanks to his eighth place in race one.
Results - 16 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Luigi Ferrara Roma Mercedes 27m18.861s 2. Giovanni Berton Dinamic BMW +1.874s 3. Thomas Biagi Ferraris Mercedes +2.678s 4. Gianni Morbidelli Audi Italia +2.926s 5. Tonio Liuzzi Ferraris Mercedes +5.202s 6. Max Mugelli Dinamic BMW +8.187s 7. Andrea Bacci CAAL Mercedes +18.592s 8. Mauro Trentin Dinamic BMW +19.073s 9. Gianni Giudici Giudici BMW +1 lap Retirements: Colin Turkington Giudici BMW 11 laps Diego Romanini MRT Lexus 10 laps Francesco Ascani Todi BMW 8 laps Domenico Schiattarella Solaris Chevrolet 6 laps Francesco Sini Solaris Chevrolet 5 laps Roberto Papini CAAL Mercedes 3 laps
Donington Park Superstars: Luigi Ferrara grabs last-gasp pole
Superstars Donington: Morbidelli defeats title rival Biagi
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