GTSPRINT INTERNATIONAL SERIES WELCOMES THE MERCEDES SLS
Rome, July 13th, 2013
After almost one month from the last round at Zolder, the 500+ horsepower engines of SUPERSTARS and GTSPRINT are set to be back running in Portugal. The two championship will be on-track at the spectacular Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimo.
MERCEDES, AUDI, BMW LEAD THE SUPERSTARS FIELD
Three different car brands shared wins in the first five rounds of the series, as while the Mercedes C63 AMG racecars dominated with the Mercedes-AMG Romeo Ferraris pair of Thomas Biagi and Vitantonio Liuzzi, Giovanni Berton scored his maiden win in Race 2 at Brno for team BMW Dinamic. In Belgium, it was Audi's time to shine with Gianni Morbidelli cruising to two wins in front of a massive crowd. The favourites' list for the next few races include Chevrolet, with the Solaris Motorsport Camaro of Francesco Sini still in the hunt of its first victory, and Porsche. The Stuttgart manufacturer's camp is featuring touring car ace Fabrizio Giovanardi paired with Nicola Larini and they will be definitely looking forward to a rebound in Portugal on the Petri Corse-prepared Porsche Panamera S racecars. Luigi Ferrara must not be forgotten as he already scored four podium finishes so far with the RRT Mercedes C63 Coup and will return once again determined to find more glory.
The Portuguese weekend of the series will also feature the two BMW M3 racers of Max Mugelli and Mauro Trentin partnering Berton at Team BMW Dinamic, and the same-powered Scuderia Giudici with team owner Gianni Giudici paired by the Fumagalli-Perlini duo. The Adria Raceway team will be on-track with four cars. Alongside the two Jaguar XFR of Diabolik and SUPERSTARS returning star Max Pigoli, they will field two Audi RS4 cars for Buscemi-Nataloni and Giacon. Completing the field will be the Cadillac CTS-V of Roberto Benedetti (RC Motorsport) and the Mercedes C63 AMG (Caal Racing) of Andrea Bacci.
GTSPRINT FIELD SET FOR MORE EXCITING ACTION
The GTSPRINT series races will be equally interesting from a competitive standpoint with the Autorlando Sport Porsche 997 of Glauco Solieri and the RC Motorsport Corvette Z06 R of Roberto Del Castello fighting for the lead. The two are separated by just 12 points in standings. The Audi R8 LMS of Thomas Schffler is currently third and the Audi MTM team will be joined for the occasion by local hero Filipe Albuquerque. The Algarve venue will also be hosting a major debit, with the Sport&You team set to line-up two Mercedes SLS racecars, one for Antonio Coimbra and Luis Silva, the second for Jos Pedro Fontes.
In addition to the powerful German and American machinery, five Ferrari 458 Italia will be on the grids in Algarve. AF Corse will rely on the experienced Filipe Barreiros while Giammaria-Kruglyk will be back on the Team Ukraine car after cruising to victory at Brno. Slovakians Andrej Studenic and Patrik Tkč (Dino&Co Racing Team) will be rejoining too while Ombra Racing Team will be back as a 2-car operation with Massimo Mantovani and Mario Cordoni on one car and Brazilian Fernando Croce on the other.
