International Superstars – Donington Park

I wasn’t supposed to be at Donington Park on Sunday. I was supposed to be terrorising Blyton Park in my beloved Lotus Exige. Sadly the Exige, much like its owner, isn’t getting any younger and seems occasionally to throw a little unreliability into the ownership mix to keep me entertained.

I don’t begrudge the old thing the odd moment of frailty so decided to make the best of the weather and head down to Donington to spend the last day of summer in the company of a friend enjoying a fine line-up of disparate race series tackling the challenges of one of the UK’s finest circuits.

The last time I caught International Superstars was back in 2009 at the romantically monickered Autodromo dell’Umbria near Magione. Despite its enticing name, Magione is a fairly nondescript kind of a place, but the runners in Superstars put on a fine display and I’ve been expectantly looking forward to seeing the brawny V8s in action once more.

It transpired that Group On had organised a ticket offer which attracted a very good-size crowd – certainly for a championship which doesn’t enjoy anything like the media attention of DTM or WTCC. The paddock access was refreshingly open and delightfully Italian. The headliners took ownership of the garages but the mechanics tending to the cars were in plain view of the general public, with privacy hoardings mostly absent. It was much like stepping 15 years back in time, especially as the same mechanics seemed to spend as much time leaning against the trucks smoking as they did mechanicking. Segafredo had an large marquee in the Auto GP area of the paddock where they served free espressos to the assembled press. It was a charming little snapshot of Italy in Leicestershire.

International Superstars Race 1

The opening touring car battle gave the crowd its finest race of the day as lively scraps abounded throughout the field. At the front it was all about Mercedes man Luigi Ferrara, who appeared to have a slight pace advantage over the thundering herd behind him. Multi-marque battles opened up throughout the field, with Sini, Schiattarella and Bacci enbroiled in a tussle which ultimately left Sini’s garish orange Camaro resting in the pitwall with damage too severe to be repaired in time for Race two.

At the front, Ferrara had it all under control until the Lexus of Romanini blew up in spectacular fashion right in the braking zone for the Melbourne Hairpin leaving a treacherously slick surface in his wake. With the leaders first on the scene, chaos briefly ensued as Ferrara speared straight on under braking. Liuzzi did the same, ending up tramping through the gravel as Morbidelli’s Audi performed an undignifed gyration. Biagi and Mugelli narrowly avoided contact with Morbidelli’s Audi before the whole leading pack was able to resume, without damage but in a significantly different order to before.

In the end, Ferrara rode his luck to emerge as a comfortable winner – deservedly so after a fine drive. Completing the podium were Berton and Biagi, who had suffered the least of those on the Melbourne oil. The hairpin proved a fine spectating spot as patient racers rolled the cars into the corner, seemingly waiting an age before unleashing savage torque up the hill, amid a suitably biblical soundtrack. Superstars might lack the technical sophistication of the DTM, as well as its strength in depth on the driver front, but there’s no denying the spectacle of the cars in action, nor their ability to go racing wheel-to-wheel.

GT Sprint

Perhaps we’re spoiled in the UK with our strong domestic GT championship, but it was disappointing to find a slim eight car field as GT Sprint hit to track for its opening race of the day. An hour long stanza featuring so few cars seemed a recipe for tedium, but it proved itself fairly compelling.

A two driver race, the early running was all about Audi pro Oliver Jarvis’s measured pursuit of Raffaele Giammaria’s Ferrari 458. As the driver changes shook out, eyes turned to Richard Westbrook who was on a typical charge – this time aboard another Ferrari, rather than his customary Porsche. Westbrook did enough to secure second – and offer the race some interest as the low numbers failed to produce much in the way of meaningful racing. Giammaria and Andrii Kruglyk took top honours.

That the top five was replicated in the day’s second hour race tells its own story. Hopefully this is a blip as the field which we saw competing at Magione back in 2009 was strong.

HRDC Allstars

In some ways this was a slightly odd addition to the race card, the Allstars doing things at a slightly more stately pace than the other races on the bill. A huge field of saloon and GT cars from the 1950s and 1960s, though, savoured the opportunity to tackle the full Donington GP circuit.

At the front, Mike Whitaker’s square TVR Griffith had taken pole by three seconds and looked a sure bet for the win. So it was to be, but over 30 minutes, Michael Squire kept Whitaker honest, his silver Cobra squirming down the Craners with conviction. Behind these Anglo-American V8 monsters, a huge pack of assorted oddballs scrambled for honour. From upright Alfa and Jaguar saloons to racy Lenham-bodied MG specials, it was manna for the old car buff. Piers Townsend’s Daimler Dart caught the eye – has there ever been a racing version before?! Meanwhile Ed Glaister’s impossible tiny Cannon GT looked ever inch the uncompromised GT racer, in spite of its diminutive 1098cc capacity. Diversity is the name of the game in Allstars.

Superstars International Race 2

The day’s second saloon encounter lacked some of the drama of the opening round, but it was still an intriguing race, with a delicate championship game as a sub-plot. Thomas Biagi headed Gianni Morbidelli for much of the race as the pair assumed a comfortable gap at the head of the field. Morbidelli looked more comfortable through the high speed sweep of Schwantz and under braking for McLeans, but Biagi had superior straight line speed. It was an intriguing contest which was settled in Morbidelli’s favour after a rare Biagi error at the Melbourne Hairpin.

 

 

The championship battle is precariously balanced with just two rounds to go – both on home soil in Italy – with both Biagi and Morbidelli sharing the lead on 173 points.

Things were relatively static behind them. BTCC hero Colin Turkington made a fine account of himself aboard a Giudici BMW M3 to take sixth in his first Superstars appearance. Race one winner Ferrara was off the pace with suspected mechanical malaise, while Liuzzi failed even to make the start after woes of his own.

Auto GP Race 2

It seems only right to confess that I heard, but did not see, the opening Auto GP race. Having intended to be at Blyton, and in the absence of an online timetable, I could only listen helplessly to the distant sound of high-revving racing engines while I purchased a sandwich from the near-by Donington Park service area. That was torture itself, especially as the race seems to have been a fairly exciting one. Kimiya Sato broke the outright circuit record before spinning all by himself while Vittorio Ghirelli took the win, and with it the championship lead.

Race two was a tactical battle, rather than one fought out in wheel-to-wheel combat, but that isn’t unusual for high-powered single seaters in the modern age. The currently breed of Auto GP car is absolutely savage and the fastest guys were assaulting the Old Hairpin as quickly as anything I can recall. All hollow wailing at high revs with a crackling battery on the overrun, the little Zytek powerplants are as effective as the chassis which appears to be smothered in grip from the trackside.

The stand-out performer in race two, as is becoming customary in Auto GP this season, was Narain Karthikeyan. Not long out of F1, the Indian was silky smooth and utterly committed on his was to a commanding win. Having started mid-grid, he gambled on an early pit stop – along with peers Sato and Ghirelli. In clear air these three made terrific progress, with Kathikeyan laying the foundations for his win in a spectacular second stint. After his late stopping rivals emerged from the pits, he was gifted a sizeable lead which he nursed to a 13 second margin over erstwhile leader van Buuren.

Sergio Campana had looked good for the second step of the podium but as he emerged from the pits in front of van Buuren, he missed his braking into the Old Hairpin and went wide amid a cloud of dust. van Buuren didn’t need a second invitation and snuck through to take his maiden series podium. Behind them, that early pit stop and strong mid-race pace allowed Sato to climb from 17th on the grid to a strong fifth place finish. He was left to rue a weekend which could’ve offered so much more.

Super Nova International left Donington as team champions but it’s all to play for in the drivers’ championship with just Brno left.