Portimao Superstars: Luigi Ferrara grabs surprise pole position
Luigi Ferrara took a surprise Superstars International Series pole position at Algarve, while Tonio Liuzzi failed to back up his incredible practice pace in qualifying
Ferrara could not have left his run any later, the Roma Racing Mercedes driver setting his best time of 1m52.159s with just seconds remaining in the session.
The time, the fastest of anyone so far this weekend, was enough to knock Gianni Morbidelli (Audi Sport Italia RS5) out of the top spot.
Morbidelli, who set his fastest time on his very first lap of the session, had been on top for almost half an hour. However, he was forced to settle for second.
Liuzzi (Romeo Ferraris Mercedes) was third, a somewhat surprising result given that he was more than a second clear of the field in free practice two. Rather than cruising to pole, as was expected, he narrowly failed to match his FP2 time, and ended up almost half a second behind Ferrara.
Liuzzi's team-mate Thomas Biagi was fourth, ahead of Max Mugelli, who was the best of the BMWs for Team Dinamic.
Fabrizio Giovanardi was sixth, while Giovanni Berton and Francesco Sini locked out the fourth row.
Mauro Trentin made it three Dinamic BMWs in the top 10 with ninth, ahead of impressive rookie Jonathan Giacon, who was the best of the new Adria Racing System entries with 10th in the Audi RS4.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Luigi Ferrara Roma Mercedes 1m52.159s 2. Gianni Morbidelli Audi Italia 1m52.389s +0.230s 3. Tonio Liuzzi Ferraris Mercedes 1m52.588s +0.429s 4. Thomas Biagi Ferraris Mercedes 1m53.077s +0.918s 5. Max Mugelli Dinamic BMW 1m53.607s +1.448s 6. Fabrizio Giovanardi Petri Porsche 1m54.113s +1.954s 7. Giovanni Berton Dinamic BMW 1m54.180s +2.021s 8. Francesco Sini Solaris Chevrolet 1m54.401s +2.242s 9. Mauro Trentin Dinamic BMW 1m54.905s +2.746s 10. Jonathan Giacon Adria Audi 1m55.522s +3.363s 11. Christian Montanari Adria Jaguar 1m56.096s +3.937s 12. Andrea Bacci CAAL Mercedes 1m56.595s +4.436s 13. 'Diabolik' Adria Jaguar 1m56.748s +4.589s 14. Alessandro Battaglin Adria Audi 1m57.766s +5.607s 15. Gianni Giudici Giudici BMW 1m57.822s +5.663s 16. Marco Fumagalli Giudici BMW 2m00.071s +7.912s
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