PALMA (FERRARI) SCORES TWO WINS IN GTSPRINT
A young guy from Sweden cruised to a sensational double victory in round 2 of the 2012 SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES at Imola. After having made his debut at Monza aboard an Audi RS5, Johan Kristoffersson scored his maiden pole position yesterday and sailed to victory in both Race 1 and Race 2, in front of the 24.000 fans that showed up on-track over the weekend. In both races, Kristoffersson was pressured by some extremely tough opponents. In Race 1, team-mate Gianni Morbidelli trailed him for most part of the distance. After having damaged his radiator in a contact, Morbidelli was forced to retire, leaving second place to Andrea Larini (Mercedes C63 AMG - Team Romeo Ferraris). In the afrernoon's race, Kristoffersson suffered from gearbox problems and ended up with a smokey trail behind him. Despite the issue, Thomas Biagi was unable to catch Kristoffersson. Biagi, who had ended up Race 1 in third, cruised to second place with the Team Dinamic BMW M3. Also in Race 2, young 17-year-old racer Andrea Boffo scored his maiden podium finish in SUPERSTARS aboard a Roma Racing Team Mercedes. Christian Fittipaldi, who was at his championship debut for Maserati and Swiss Team, brought home a fifth and a sixth place while Tonio Liuzzi(Mercedes C63 AMG) scored 6th in Race 1 before having to retire due to a gearbox failure. He had also suffered from the compensation ballast from the previous round at Monza.
The GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES witnessed a 1-2 win too. Black Team racer Andrea Palma went on to a double win on his Ferrari 458, while at his first time run in the series, Lorenzo Bontempelli also found his way to the podium aboard the Kessel-prepared Ferrari 430. After cruising to 3rd place in Race 1, Bontempelli challenged Palma for the whole Race 2, ending up just 4 seconds adrift. In Race 1, rookie Mario Cordoni, fielded by Ombra Racing on a Ferrari 458 Italia GTS3, had cruised to 2nd place overall while Glauco Solieri also hit the podium with his GTS2 Porsche. In the GTS CUP TROPHY wins were shared by Lorenzo Casè (Ferrari 430 – Scuderia 27 Baldini) and Roberto Silva (Porsche 997 Cup – Ebimotors).
The next round for SUPERSTARS will be at Donington on the 19th and 20th of May. GTSPRINT will be back for the following meeting, scheduled at Mugello.
