SUPERSTARS, GTSPRINT SET FOR EXCITING SHOWDOWN AT DONINGTON UK STARS TURKINGTON, JARVIS TO HIGHLIGHT TOP-CLASS ROSTER
The SUPERSTARS WORLD OF RACING will be back roaring this weekend at Donington Park in the UK for the sixth round of the 2013 SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES and GTSPRINT. The historical 4-kilometer long British track will once again be an exciting destination for the series' Teams and Drivers as well as for the fans. The two championship will also be joining forces for the first time with Auto GP, the open-wheel series organized by Enzo Coloni and featuring 550-hp racecars. It will be a complete package setting the stage for another showdown between top racecar drivers and car manufacturers.
With the top four in standings covered by just 34 points and 46 points up for grabs at Donington, Thomas Biagi is entering the weekend with the overall lead in standings driving a Mercedes C63 AMG for the Mercedes Romeo Ferraris team. Two former F.1 racers are hot on his heels. Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia) will be back after four straight wins between Belgium and Portugal, while Biagi's team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi is third in the ITALIAN SUPERSTARS CHAMPIONSHIP standings and third in the International Series. Giovanni Berton, currently laying in fourth, will be taking full advantage from an improved ECU with his Team BMW Dinamic BMW M3 E92. An additional top star will drive for Team Giudici. After having scored two wins in last week's BTCC round at Knockhill.
One major news will be the return of the Lexus ISF, fielded for Diego Romanini by the MRT by Nocentini crew. The Tuscany-based racer will bring the Japanese brand back to competition as it will be joined by Chevrolet (with Francesco Sini and the Camaro) and Cadillac. Another well-known name will return to SUPERSTARS as Roberto Papini will be joining Andrea Bacci among the Caal Racing stable.
The revised Balance Of Performance will also grant some more excitement in a constant effort to equalize the technical packages and make the on-track challenge even tighter.
An exciting show is also expected in GTSPRINT as current leader Thomas Schöffler will find plenty of competition to deal with in the UK. The young German, who shared his MTM Audi R8 with experienced Filipe Albuquerque in Portugal, will be partnered by another quick Audi driver, Oliver Jarvis. The British ace, a former DTM star, ended up in third place overall in the 2013 24-Hour race at Le Mans, driving a works Audi prototype. The technical package of the series will be relying once again on Porsche and Corvette. The Autorlando Porsche 997 racer will be fielded for Glauco Solieri, while RC Motorsport is returning with a Corvette C6.R for Roberto Del Castello and Piero Necchi.
Several Ferrari 458 racecars will be on-track too. The Ombra Racing Team cars will feature Brazilian Fernando Croce joined by the Mantovani-Cordoni duo, while Team Ukraine is set to campaign two cars for Andrii Kruglyk and Ruslan Tsyplakov. Another notable contender will be the Ginetta G50 driven by Gianni Giudici.
Everything is set for an exciting SWR-powered weekend which will be once again providing the fans with the PADDOCK SHOW experience (Turkington will be on-stage too to share thoughts about his SUPERSTARS debut) and autograph sessions. A chance not to miss for the fans on-track.
The engines will turn on on Saturday with the practice and qualifying sessions. SUPERSTARS will run a single qualifying session at 16:05 while the GTSPRINT racers will be on-track for a double 15-minute segment at 16:45. The two 25-minute + 1 lap SUPERSTARS races will be kicking-off on Sunday at 10:00 and 14:10, with the GTSPRINT races taking place respectively at 11:20 and 16:25. All times are CEST (GMT+2).
