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Morbidelli, Vanthoor dominate both Superstars races at Zolder

The Zolder round of the SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES provided the championship's fans with an unexpected reshuffle in Belgium, and while Audi cruised to a double 1-2 finish with Gianni Morbidelli topping Laurens Vanthoor twice, the German manufacturer's regular made it back into the fight for title in-style. In front of 13.500 fans (20.000 over the whole weekend) Morbidelli fought back to second place overall with 96 points and now trails Thomas Biagi (Mercedes), 23 lengths back. Giovanni Berton moved back to third for BMW (91 points) with Vitantonio Liuzzi one points back.

After starting from the pole, Morbidelli immediately stormed to the lead in Race 1 and never looked back. While Vanthoor finished in second, Luigi Ferrara, on the Roma Racing Team Mercedes C63 AMG, rounded out the podium. Race 2 saw Morbidelli prevail at a last-gasp as his team-mate lifted just before the finish line. At his maiden SUPERSTARS run, Vanthoor enjoyed a positive run as he scored back-to-back podiums.

Raffaele Giammaria, coming back to the series with the Caal Racing Mercedes C63 AMG, scored a good podium finish edging Biagi (Team Mercedes-AMG Romeo Ferraris) who rebounded from his 9th place in Race 1. His team-mate Liuzzi had a troubled day too: after rounding out the top-5 in the morning heat, he finished Race 2 in 7th. Similar story for Giovanni Berton, who brought his Dinamic BMW M3 racer to 8th and 7th.

Vanthoor hasn't been the only notable new-entry. Belgian Renaud Kuppens, lined-up by Team Giudici on another M3, stayed in the hunt for podium all the time to record fourth and fifth place finishes.

It's been an unusual race weekend for the GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES. The Grand Touring Car series lined-up in the Zolder GT International race alongside the local Supercar Challenge for a total of 25 cars on the grid. Both GTSPRINT wins were scored by the returning Lamborghini Gallardo. Behind the wheel for Kox Racing. The Audi R8 LMS of Audi MTM, with Thomas Schoffler and Laurens Vanthoor scored two second places with the WRT Audi driver recording four second-place finishes throughout the whole weekend. Third place in the two mains went respectively to the Del Castello-Solieri pair, on the RC Motorsport Corvette, and to championship leader Glauco Solieri, on the Autorlando Porsche.

The next round for the SUPERSTARSWORLD will be at Portimao (Portugal) on July 20th and 21st.

SUPERSTARS | Race 1 (top 5): 1.Morbidelli (Audi RS5) 16 laps 27'50.559; 2. Vanthoor (Audi RS5) 7.422; 3. Ferrara (Mercedes C63 AMG Coupé) 13.066; 4. Kuppens (BMW M3 E92) 18.690; 5. Liuzzi (Mercedes C63 AMG) 19.150.

SUPERSTARS | Race 2 (top 5): 1. Morbidelli (Audi RS5) 17 laps 28'02.948; 2. Vanthoor (Audi RS5) 0.466; 3. Giammaria (Mercedes C63 AMG) 6.495; 4. Biagi (Mercedes C63 AMG) 26.394; 5. Kuppens (BMW M3 E92) 28.995.

SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES (top 5): 1. Biagi 119 points; 2. Morbidelli 96; 3. Berton 91; 4. Liuzzi 90; 5. Ferrara 71.

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GTSPRINT | Race 1 (top 5): 1. Kox-Pronk (Lamborghini Gallardo LP 600 GTS3) 37 laps 1h00'51"565; 2. Vanthoor-Schöffler (Audi R8 LMS GTS3) 12"688; 3. Del Castello-Necchi (Corvette Z06 R GTS3) 32"827; 4. Cordoni-Mantovani (Ferrari 458 Italia GTS3) 36"633; 5. Solieri (Porsche 997 GTS3) 37"875.

GTSPRINT | Race 2 (top 5): 1. Kox-Pronk (Lamborghini Gallardo LP600) 34 laps 1:01'39.233; 2. Vanthoor-Schoffler (Audi R8 LMS) 23.123; 3. Solieri (Porsche 911 GT3) 48.570; 4. Del Castello-Necchi (Corvette Z06R) 1lap; 5. Cordoni-Mantovani (Ferrari 458 Italia) 1 lap.

GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES (top 5): 1. Solieri (Porsche 911 GT3) 113 points; 2. Del Castello (Corvette Z06R) 101; 3. Schoffler (Audi R8 LMS) 87; 4. Necchi (Corvette Z06R) 85; 5. Kruglyk (Ferrari 459 Italia) 65.