Donington Park Superstars: Luigi Ferrara escapes oil slick to win

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