CARTOURINGSUPERSTARS CHAMPIONSHIP

Stefano Gabellini took the Superstars championship lead with a double win at Mugello at the weekend.

The Italian driver piloted his CAAL Racing BMW 550i to a pair of victories, capitalising on problems for the ROAL Motorsport BMW M3 of Gianni Morbidelli, who was the quickest driver all weekend before being struck down with mechanical problems.

In race 1 Zakspeed’s Pierluigi Martini made a superb start from row 2 to lead on the first lap in his Chrysler 300C SRT8, but Gabellini was soon on his tail and forced his way past early in the race. Pole sitter Morbidelli was involved in the lead battle early on before pitting due to technical issues.

Martini, carrying 80kg of success ballast as championship leader entering the round, couldn’t match Gabellini’s pace and found himself defending from Max Pigoli’s Mercedes C63, Roberto Papini in the second CAAL Racing BMW and the Habitat Racing BMW 550i of Bruno Bollini. Contact on lap 5 earned Martini a 25 second penalty for defending a little too robustly from Bollini who was pushed off and into retirement.

That penalty dropped the former Minardi F1 driver to fifth in the overall classification, as Pigoli came through to finish second, some way down on Gabellini. Mauro Cesari claimed third for CAAL Racing, with team-mate Sandro Bettini in fifth.

Race 2 was sperated by a photo finish as Martini, free from the huge successive ballast, pushed Gabellini right to the chequered flag, a superb battle seeing the pair separated by just five one hundredths of a second at the finish.

Kristian Ghedina guided his Movisport BMW 550i to third after retiring on the first lap of race 1, just ahead of Pigoli, with Mauro Cesari fifth.

Andrea Chiesa grabbed a top ten finish in the Swiss Team Maserati Quattorporte, while Morbidelli could only manage 12th after starting way down the field following his race 1 technical maladies. He had fought up to third place from the sixth row by lap three, but a puncture forced an unscheduled pit stop and ruined his race.

Superstars results – Round 4, Mugello

Race 1

1 Stefano Gabellini, CAAL Racing, BMW 550i, 14 laps
2 Max Pigoli, Max Pigoli Team, Mercedes C63 AMG, +27.999
3 Mauro Cesari, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, +32.439
4 Sandro Bettini, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, +33.496
5 Pierluigi Martini, Zakspeed, Chrysler 300C SRT8, +46.044
6 Francesco Ascani, ROAL Motorsport, BMW M3 E90, +1:05.212
7 Sandro Cacciari, Ferlito Motors, Jaguar S-Type R, +1:25.277
8 Nico Caldarola, Vaccari Motori, BMW M5, +1:26.365
9 Fabrizio Armetta, Motorzone Race Car, BMW M5, +1 lap
10 Ermanno Dionisio, Ferlito Motors, Jaguar S-Type R, +1 lap
11 Gianni Morbidelli, ROAL Motorsport, BMW M3 E90, +2 laps
12 Nicolo Piancastelli, RGA Sportmanship, BMW M3 E92, +2 laps

Not classified
Roberto Papini, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, 5 laps
Bruno Bollini, Habitat Racing, BMW 550i, 4 laps
Kristian Ghedina, Movisport, BMW 550i, 0 laps
Andrea Chiesa, Swiss Team, Maserati Quattroporte, 0 laps

Race 2

1 Stefano Gabellini, CAAL Racing, BMW 550i, 13 laps
2 Pierluigi Martini, Zakspeed, Chrysler 300C SRT8, +0.047
3 Kristian Ghedina, Movisport, BMW 550i, +20.096
4 Max Pigoli, Max Pigoli Team, Mercedes C63 AMG, +21.930
5 Mauro Cesari, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, +30.956
6 Sandro Bettini, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, +34.145
7 Francesco Ascani, ROAL Motorsport, BMW M3 E90, +34.885
8 Ermanno Dionisio, Ferlito Motors, Jaguar S-Type R, +34.956
9 Nico Caldarola, Vaccari Motori, BMW M5, +49.600
10 Andrea Chiesa, Swiss Team, Maserati Quattroporte, 54.336
11 Sandro Cacciari, Ferlito Motors, Jaguar S-Type R, +1:39.509
12 Gianni Morbidelli, ROAL Motorsport, BMW M3 E90, +1:42.458

Not classified
Alessandro Bernasconi, Habitat Racing, BMW 550i, 3 laps
Roberto Papini, CAAL Racing, BMW M5, 0 laps
Fabrizio Armetta, Motorzone Race Car, BMW M5, 0 laps
Nicolo Piancastelli, RGA Sportmanship, BMW M3 E92, 0 laps

Championship Standings (after 4 rounds)

1 Stefano Gabellini – 108pts
2 Pierluigi Martini – 102
3 Max Pigoli – 92
4 Gianni Morbidelli – 65
5 Mauro Cesari – 59
6 Roberto Papini – 40
7 Kristian Ghedina – 38
8 Francesco Ascani – 38
9 Fabrizio Armetta – 26
10 Alessandro Bernasconi – 21

Next round: Portimao, 2 August

Watch Superstars highlights from Mugello on Motors TV (Sky Channel 413, Virgin Media 545) on Saturday 4 July at 5pm (BST).


Andy Wilkinson