An exciting battle for pole went underway in qualifying for the second round of the SUPERSTARS INTERNATIONAL SERIES at Valencia. An heavy rainfall, followed by a sunny break made everyone hold their breath in the closing stages of today's runs.

The lead kept swinging between several drivers through the 30-minute session, as the Audi RS4 of Ermanno Dionisio, the BMW of Stefano Gabellini, and the Chevrolet Lumina of Fabrizio Armetta battled to the top spot. In the end it was Maserati to hit the top of the charts with Andrea Bertolini, as the Quattroporte fielded by Swiss Team for the four-time World FIA GT Champion confirmed the huge potential showed at Monza.

On race day, many cars and drivers will try to reverse Saturday's results. Luigi Ferrara put himself on the front row thanks to a last-gasp effort on his Caal Racing Mercedes C63 AMG. Armetta ended up in third, followed by Monza's Race 1 winner Max Pigoli.

Gabellini will start on the third row, paired by home hero Sergio Hernandez, lined-up on a BMW M3 of Campos Racing. Dionisio ended up in 7th for Audi as five different manufacturers made it into the top-7.

The first race of the weekend will be taking-off tomorrow at 11:40, followed at 16:40 by the second 25-minute + 1 heat. Rai Sport 2 will provide the event's coverage in Italy.


QUALIFYING RESULTS (top-ten): 1. Mugelli-Palma (Ferrari 430 GTS2 - Vittoria Competizioni) 1’54”464; 2. Giacomo Barri (Ferrari 430 GTS2 - Vittoria Competizioni) 1’54”823; 3. Cadei-Mancini (Ferrari 458 GTS3 - AF Corse) 1’55”075; 4. Del Castello (Corvette Z06 R GTS3 - R.C. Motorsport) 1’55”080; 5. Solieri-Cressoni (Ferrari 430 GTS2 - R.T. Edil Cris) 1’55”219; 6. Cirò-Ardagna Perez (Ferrari 430 GTS2 - AF Corse) 1’55”711; 7. Dalle Stelle (Ferrari 430 GTS - R.T. Edil Cris) 1’56”573; 8. Graziani (Lamborghini Gallardo GTS Cup - Mik Corse) 1’57”980; 9. Goldstein-De La Reina (Ferrari 430 GTS Cup - Kessel Racing) 2’00”581; 10. Neri-Brusa (Ferrari 430 GTS Cup - Vittoria Competizioni) 2’01”294.