First win of season for Gianni Morbidelli

Gianni Morbidelli took his first win of the season in Superstars in the opening race of the weekend at Vallelunga. The reigning Superstars Champion took a clean sweep of pole position, fastest lap and the race win, to go with his fastest times in both free practice sessions in his BMW Italia M3.

Morbidelli survived a first lap safety car to lead from start to finish to lead home young rookie Matteo Malucelli in his Chevrolet Lumina and double Monza winner Luigi Ferrara in his Mercedes C63 AMG to make it three different makes on the podium.

Third placed qualifier Christian Montanari endured a terrible start to his weekend, as his car was left on it’s jacks on the starting grid, ruling him out of contention for the victory. Malucelli made the most of this to gain one position before swiftly demoting Thomas Biagi.

Ferrara and Stefano Gabellini also passed the former FIA GT Champion, though the latter’s BMW M3 fell back through the pack towards the end of the race, allowing Biagi into fourth, with Max Pigoli one place behind.

Biagi’s fourth place allows him to close the gap on Championship leader Pigoli to just one point going into Sunday’s second race, with Ferrara a further nine points behind in third place.