Imola, race 1:

It’s been a winning comeback for Kimiya Sato (Euronova) in the fifth round of the 2014 AutoGP championship. The Japanese racer cruised to win Race 1 at Imola in a commanding fashion but also took advantage from a first-lap technical mishap happened to German pole-sitter Markus Pommer (Super Nova). Once in the lead, Sato never looked back. A consistent Kevin Giovesi ended up in second for FMS and edged fellow Italian Andrea Roda (Virtuosi UK), who moved past his Norweigian team-mate Pal Varhaug at Acque Minerali. It was a good comeback for Varhaug too: the 2012 runner-up performed well all-around.Michela Cerruti, driving for Super Nova, quickly made up for the ground lost in the opening laps. The Italian female racer kept the same pace as the winner for most of the day and recovered 12 seconds, before rounding out the top-5 in Varhaug’s slipstream.Despite Pommer’s retirement, Super Nova was also able to celebrate for Francesco Dracone’s sixth place. The Italian got the nod of a spectacular battle with Swissman Christof von Grunicen. Giuseppe Cipriani, driving for Ibiza Racing, ended up in 8th and will start from the pole in Race 2 thanks to the reversed top-8 grid format. The points zone was completed by Tamas Pal Kiss (Zele Racing) who was slowed down by a pit-stop issue, and Vittorio Ghirelli (FMS) who was forced to a second stop. At his first race in the series, Euronova’s Salvatore De Plano drove consistently to end the race with no mistakes.Race 2, scheduled on a 17-lap distance, will start at 11:40 with live TV coverage on Eurosport.