Audi Sport Italia Press Release
Audi Sport Italia's first visit to Slovakia
Ring has in store dismal Saturday for the team's Superstars Series drivers
SLOVAKIA RING QUALIFYING REPORT
Audi Sport Italia's two RS 5s will start from 7th
and from 13th on the grid for tomorrows 5th round of the 2013 International
Superstars Serie at Slovakia Ring, just a short drive from the Country's
capital city, Bratislava. At the flat Slovakian venue there was no drag up the
hill for the two Audis, as it had been the case at Brno, but the long
straights sufficed as hurdles to be cleared for the choked
powerplants of the German four-wheel-driven RS 5s, cars which also have to
come to grips with a beefy mandatory minimum weight.
Drivers Gianni Morbidelli and Nando Geri were quite aware of this, and
therfore they've spent most of their Saturday eying their Sunday chances rather
than fancing the unlikely dream of being a contender today. This afternoon the
Pesaro-based driver was among the most conservative in making use of tyres,
putting in 6 laps as polesitter Vitantonio Liuzzi chalked up 10.
Morbidelli, who earlier had finished 4th and 5th in
free practices, had his first try spoiled by one of several red flags
being waved at the Ring, and the best he could post on his
Camozzi-liveried RS 5 was 2:11.291s, 0.433s adrift of then leader Liuzzi and 3
thousandths of a second away from Max Mugelli's BMW. By then the beefier
Mercedeses and the swifter BMWs had Morbidelli's number, as Gigi Ferrara,
series leader Thomas Biagi, Brno hero Giovanni Berton and even Fabrizio
Giovanardi's Panamera managed to pip the former F.1 driver.
The qualifying session, though, was set to offer
another fellow former F.1, Liuzzi, a chance to go into overkill mode,
as the AMG Mercedes sedan shredded (2:09.552) then-pole position lap set
by Ferrara's coupe by a whopping 1.084s, an achievement that was even more
impressively as over half a second of his edge was built in Sector 3,
which boils down to a corner and two straights.
Tomorrow's meme then will be to steer clear of
trouble, especially near the guillotine-like chicane at the end of Sector 1.
Tomorrow the field will be expected by marshalls hoisting yellow flags on
a regular basis, but the area could still trigger armageddon on any given
lap. Something that Morbidelli will keep in mind and even more so his team mate
Geri, who at Slovakia Ring claimed his best Superstars starting position as
yet, moreover the best available to drivers who are entered in the Star Drivers
standings, which lists top notch amateurs.
INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS SERIES
Slovakia Ring, Qualifying :
1. Liuzzi (AMG Mercedes) 2:09.552;
2. Ferrara (AMG Mercedes)
2:10.636;
3. Berton (BMW) 2:10.683;
3. Berton (BMW) 2:10.683;
4. Mugelli
(BMW) 2:10.784;
5. Giovanardi (Porsche) 2:10.857;
5. Giovanardi (Porsche) 2:10.857;
../..
7 .
MORBIDELLI 2:11.291;
../..
13. GERI
2:15.730.
INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTARS SERIES 2013
Drivers points standings after 4 rounds:
1. Biagi 73 points;
2. Liuzzi 52 pts;
2. Liuzzi 52 pts;
3. Berton 46 pts;
4. Ferrara 44 pts.;
5. MORBIDELLI 39 pts.4. Ferrara 44 pts.;
Photo credit: Audi Sport Italia
