Motorsport News
Iron Man RS 4 Wins Season Opener of Italian Superstars Series
By source: Audi Sport Italia
Apr 21, 2008, 21:55

The new edition of the Campionato Italiano Superstars has kicked-off in the outskirts of Rome on a glorious sunny afternoon... exactly as the previous edition, with Gianni Morbidelli on top in qualifying, in the race and in the fastest lap. Morbidelli took the lead at the start from the 550i BMWs of former Supertouring car driver Stefano Gabellini and former downhiller Kristian Ghedina and never looked back winning an eneventful race by 13.371. His team mate Giorgio Sanna, who started from Row 2 had to make an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 2 due to a blown left rear tyre. He wound up 10th, picking therefore only a lone point on the Sunday at his home track.



With race ballast still absent Morbidelli's RS 4 was clearly the class of the field, while newcomer Zakspeed Chrysler 300C SRT8 retired on Lap 5 after mechanical trouble. Another new entry in this V8 series, the Cadillac CTS-V did not even took the start after transmission troubles plagued their practices.

RESULTS:

1. GIANNI MORBIDELLI (Audi RS 4) 14 laps / 24.34:227 2. Stefano Gabellini (BMW 55oi) + 13.371 3. Kristian Ghedina (BMW 550i) + 23.795 4. Roberto Papini (BMW M5) +28.982 5. Alessandro Pagliai (BMW M5) + 42.230 6. Alessandro Battaglin (BMW M5) + 54.359 7. Francesco Ascani (BMW 550i) + 57.679 8. Fabrizio Fede (BMW M5) + 1:00.241 9. Leonardo Baccarelli (BMW M5) + 1:01.860 10. GIORGIO SANNA (Audi RS 4) + 1 lap 11. STEVO GOLDSTEIN (Audi RS 4) + 5 laps

About the Italian Superstars Championship
The Campionato Italiano Superstars (Italian Superstars Championship) is a series sanctioned by ACI-CSAI (Italy's national sanctioning body) and promoted by FG Sport, the Rome-based firm owned by Maurizio Flammini which has successfully launched the World Superbike.

Powerful production-based sedans are eligible for the series' grids: Audi RS 4, BMW M5 and 550, Cadillac CTS-V and Jaguar S-Type R.

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