Superstars: Mercedes dominates Monza
Mercedes power ruled the SUPERSTARSWORLD at Monza in the opening round for the 2013 SWR-promoted championships. In a great showing for the manufacturer-supported Mercedes-AMG Romeo Ferraris team, Vitantonio Liuzzi and Thomas Biagi shared wins on Race Day with their Mercedes C63 AMG machines while Roma Racing Team's Luigi Ferrara scored third place twice on his brand-new coupé model. The overall pace proved incredibly high right from the start and, as it always happen in the series, two exciting races were exactly what the weekend's 31.000 spectators were expecting. The crowd enjoyed today's top action and classy moves, providing Teams and Drivers with a picture-perfect frame.
Despite having less power to rely on, the Audi RS5 of Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia) performed well as the Pesaro-based racer ended up twice in fourth place. The brand-new Chevrolet Camaro of Francesco Sini (Solaris Motorsport) ended the two races respectively in 5th and 6th, sitting right behind CAAL Racing's Andrea Bacci on a Mercedes in the afternoon.
Diabolik, aka Gian Maria Gabbiani, put together a spectacular recovery drive in Race 2 in a weekend that saw him hide his true identity in order to better impersonate the popular Italian comic character. After being stopped by an electrical issue in Race 1, he topped Team BMW Dinamic's Giovanni Berton in 7th on Race 2. Berton was the quickest BMW driver throughout Race Day and also hit 6th place in the morning.
It's been a tough day for Swede Johan Kristoffersson. The reigning Champion suffered from a serious differential issue in qualifying and was prevented to race. On the other hand, Leonardo Baccarelli (Mercedes C63 AMG) and Francesco Ascani (BMW M3 E90) shared honours in the Star Drivers trophy.
After the great win scored by the father-son duo of Alexander Talkanitsa Sr and Jr on Saturday, GTSPRINT was back on-track for Race 2. In Race 1, Glauco Solieri with the Autorlando Porsche 997 and the Team Ferrari Ukraine 458 Italia of Kruglyk-Tsyplakov had rounded out the podium but this time it was the Corvette brand to prevail. The RC Motorsport Z06 model of Del Castello-Necchi sailed to win Race 2, followed by the Ferrari 458 Italia of Tanakorn-Lathouras (AF Corse) and by the Maserati MC GT3 of Pigoli-Dromedari (Swiss Team). In the GTS Cup Trophy, Goldstein-De La Reina took Race 2 honours after the same-powered Cassarà-Carboni had hit the top on Saturday for Petri Corse.
The next round for the SUPERSTARSWORLD will be on the 18th and 19th of May in Brno, Czech Republic.