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Ferrara, Morbidelli cruise to Donington wins

With just two rounds at Imola and Vallelunga to go before the end of the season, the chase for the SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES title is getting closer than ever. The British weekend of the series at Donington Park featured an exciting challenge to watch for the 22.000 fans that crowded the circuit's grandstands on Sunday. Two former champions are now tied in standings as Thomas Biagi, on the works-supported C63 AMG of Team Mercedes-AMG Romeo Ferraris, was caught by Gianni Morbidelli and by his Audi Sport Italia-prepared Audi RS5. They both stand with 173 points now, and only a tricky slide on some oil left on-track earlier in the day prevented the Pesaro-based man to get the nod. Morbidelli lost time on the fluids coming from Diego Romanini's Lexus ISF and after having to settle for fourth behind Luigi Ferrara, Giovanni Berton and Biagi in Race 1, he passed Biagi late in the day to score a popular win in f ront of the Mercedes man and Team BMW Dinamic's Max Mugelli. In Race 1, it was finally time to celebrate for Ferrara, as he dominated with the R.R.T Mercedes C63 AMG to end up in front of Berton (BMW M3 - Team BMW Dinamic) and Biagi.

After six rounds, Biagi and Morbidelli also extended their lead on the rest of the pack. Berton is now third in standings with 136 points followed by Vitantonio Liuzzi (132) and Ferrara (113). The race results at Donington are still sub-judice though, following to a protest issued by Audi Sport Italia against the C63s of Biagi and Liuzzi. For the latter, it was a tough weekend anyway. After having rounded out the top-5 in Race 1, when he was the hardest-hit man by the oil incident, he had to retire on lap 1 of Race 2 with a differential problem. On the other hand, some good performances were also to report from Mauro Trentin, on the third Dinamic BMW. The Italian took 5th on Race 2 in front of local star Colin Turkington (BMW M3 - Scuderia Giudici).

The GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES ended its British weekend with two identical podiums. Thanks to two spectacular 1-2 results, the Ferrari 458 Italia racecars fielded by Team Ferrari Ukraine dominated were the class of the field on Race Day. Raffaele Giammaria and Andrii Kruglyk won twice in front of their team-mates Ruslan Tsyplakov and Richard Westbrook, while the MTM Audi R8 LMS of Thomas Schöffler and Oliver Jarvis (Audi MTM) scored two third place finishes. Actually, the whole top-5 of Race 1 was replicated in Race 2 with Glauco Solieri, on the Autorlando-prepared Porsche 997, topping Fernando Croce and Matteo Beretta (Ombra Racing Team). Sixth and seventh places were traded by Del Castello-Necchi, on the RC Motorsport Corvette Z06R and by Cordoni-Mantovani on the second Ombra Racing Team car.

The next round for the SUPERSTARSWORLD will be taking place on September the 28th and 29th at Imola.

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SUPERSTARS | Race 1 (top 5): 1. Ferrara (Mercedes C63 AMG Coupé) 16 laps, 27'18.861; 2. Berton (BMW M3 E92) 1.874; 3. Biagi (Mercedes C63 AMG) 2.678; 4. Morbidelli (Audi RS5) 2.926; 5. Liuzzi (Mercedes C63 AMG) 5.202.

SUPERSTARS | Race 2 (top 5): 1. Morbidelli (Audi RS5) 17 laps, 27'13.077; 2. Biagi (Mercedes C63 AMG) 8.544; 3. Mugelli (BMW M3 E92) 9.322; 4. Berton (BMW M3 E92) 10.916; 5. Trentin (BMW M3 E92) 39.145.

SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES (top 5): 1. Ferrara e Morbidelli 173 points; 3. Berton 136; 4. Liuzzi 132; 5. Ferrara 113.

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GTSPRINT | Race 1 (top-5): 1. Kruglyk-Giammaria (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 39 laps, 1h00'07.804; 2. Tsyplakov-Westbrook (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 36.688; 3. Schoffler-Jarvis (Audi R8 LMS GT3) 38.112; 4. Solieri (Porsche 997 GT3) 1'25.070; 5. Croce-Beretta (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 1 giro.

GTSPRINT | Race 2 (top 5): Kruglyk-Giammaria (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 39 laps, 1h00'24.038; 2. Tsyplakov-Westbrook (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) 6.008; 3. Schoffler-Jarvis (Audi R8 LMS GT3) 6.764; 4. Solieri (Porsche 997 GT3) 54.125; 5. Croce-Beretta (Ferrari 458 Italia GT3) a 1'02.105.

GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES (top 5): 1. Schöffler 153 points; 2. Solieri 145; 3. Del Castello 124; 4. Kruglyk 119; 5. Necchi 108.