Enna Superstars: Raffaele Giammaria wins as title goes down to wire
Raffaele Giammaria took a lights-to-flag debut victory in the International Superstars Series' first race at Pergusa in Sicily
The GT regular backed up his pole position by leading the entire 25-minute race in the Romeo Ferraris Mercedes.
He had to withstand intense pressure from Max Pigoli for the first 20 minutes, but when the Ferlito Jaguar's engine gave up with five minutes to go, Giammaria was clear to take a comfortable win.
Behind him, Francesco Sini (Solaris Chevrolet) wound up taking second after inheriting the place from Pigoli. It wasn't the only place Sini inherited throughout the race - he only found himself third when his team-mate Simone Iacone slowed and then retired on the opening lap.
Pigoli and Iacone weren't the only two drivers to have problems throughout the race.
Thomas Biagi saw his slim title hopes go up in smoke, quite literally, when his Dinamic BMW suffered an engine failure early in the race, while Pigoli's Ferlito team-mate Ezio Mucci's engine didn't even make it through the first lap.
The last driver to strike problems was Luigi Ferrara, who put in a stunning drive to go from the eighth row to third by the last lap, only for his Roma Racing Mercedes to slow on the run to flag, barely crossing the line before stopping and relegating Ferrara to seventh place.
The retirements were great news for both title contenders. While Tonio Liuzzi (CAAL Racing Mercedes) looked strong early in the race, he started to drop back through the field as the laps went by. However, thanks to the likes of Pigoli and Ferrara, he found himself third at the finish.
Johan Kristoffersson was even more fortunate.
Despite lapping almost nine seconds per lap slower than the leaders throughout the race in the overweight KMS Audi, the Swede found himself fifth at the finish, one place behind Liuzzi's team-mate Andrea Bacci and one ahead of Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia), who threatened not to race because of how slow the Audis were in free practice.
As a result, Kristoffersson leads Liuzzi by just six points heading into Sunday afternoon's final race.
Results - 14 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Raffale Giammaria Romeo Mercedes 27m38.005s 2. Francesco Sini Solaris Chevrolet + 5.988s 3. Tonio Liuzzi CAAL Mercedes + 46.581s 4. Andrea Bacci CAAL Mercedes + 48.814s 5. Johan Kristoffersson KMS Audi + 1m18.093s 6. Gianni Morbidelli Audi Italia + 1m18.762s 7. Luigi Ferrara Roma Mercedes + 1m19.442s 8. Mauro Cesari Swiss Maserati + 1m24.827s 9. Thomas Schoffler MTM Audi + 1m28.840s 10. Nico Caldarola Roma Mercedes + 2 laps 11. Max Pigoli Ferlito Jaguar + 5 laps 12. Giovanni Berton Dinamic BMW + 7 laps 13. Max Mugelli Dinamic BMW + 7 laps 14. Marco Pollara Todi BMW + 7 laps Retirements: Thomas Biagi Dinamic BMW 6 laps Christian Fittipaldi Swiss Maserati 5 laps Ezio Muccio Ferlito Jaguar 1 lap Simone Iacone Solaris Chevrolet 0 laps Andrea Larini Romeo Mercedes 0 laps
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