Thomas Biagi blasts lack of parity against Audi

2010 Superstars Series champion Thomas Biagi has blasted the performance gap between his Mercedes C63 AMG and the Audi RS 5 of Audi Sport Italia, after Gianni Morbidelli jumped into the joint lead of the standings after a win and a fourth at Donington Park at the weekend.

The 37-year-old qualified fifth and finished on the podium in race one, thanks in part due to the oil slick left at the hairpin by Diego Romanini’s Lexus, which caught out his team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi and the Audi of Morbidelli who were ahead.

In race two, Biagi launched himself from sixth on the grid to lead at the first corner, but was chased by Morbidelli’s Audi for the first ten laps of the race, before the Audi Sport Italia driver went past under braking at the first corner and led the rest of the race.

“On the first lap I had a dream that I could win, but I really was dreaming,” said Biagi to TouringCarTimes. “I pushed 120% but Gianni was just controlling me, then when he decided to push, he just went and said bye-bye to everybody. Then I completely lost my tyres at the end of the race.”

A frustrated Biagi believes the organisers needs to more to compensate for the performance gap between the rear-wheel drive cars such as the Mercedes and BMWs, and the four-wheel drive Audi RS 5, the car which also won the drivers’ title last season whilst being driven by Johan Kristoffersson.

“In the end, I’m the winner of the two-wheel drive cars,” said a frustrated Biagi. “Against the Audi with the four-wheel drive there is another world and there is no competition at all.

“We had 10kg of ballast, they had 60kg, which should be close to a second a lap a handicap from the ballast, and they were still flying away, so I’m really disappointed with what’s happening. It’s a miracle that we’re on just the same points in the championship.

“I know it’s very difficult for those who do the balance of performance, at the moment it seems impossible to balance four-wheel drive cars, but that Audi doesn’t seem to be a road car like ours, it seems to behave more like a prototype.

“I’m very very disappointed, there is no competition at all.”

Biagi’s now tied at the top of the standings with Morbidelli on 173 points, but on count back, Morbidelli leads the championship after his five victories this season compared to Biagi’s two, the last of which was back in May at the Brno circuit in the Czech Republic.