Santoponte doubles up in red-flagged second race
Matteo Santoponte secured a second Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli victory in as many races at Mugello, beating Bjorn Grossmann in a race brought to a premature halt by a red flag.
Starting alongside poleman Grossmann, Santoponte rounded the first corner in second behind the series champion, before muscling his way past in the left-hand part of the following chicane.
The pair remained close for the rest of the race, with Santoponte's lead hovering around the one-second mark, but Grossmann never really had an opportunity to seize back the lead.
Grossmann was forced to settle for second when the red flags were shown with two minutes of the half-hour race remaining, the result of Joe Macari's car spinning and then being T-boned by one of his pursuers.
Behind the leading duo, a close battle for third was resolved in favour of Max Blancardi, who spent the entire race defending from Florian Merckx after both moved ahead of David Gostner on the second lap.
Gostner meanwhile finished fifth overall, two places ahead of the Trofeo Pirelli Am winner Sam Smeeth. The Brit beat Alessandro Vezzoni, who slipped several places from his starting position of third overall early on, although the Italian still did enough to secure the Trofeo Pirelli Am title.
Steve Wyatt, meanwhile, took a straightforward win the Asia-Pacific series, finishing 11th overall, while Ziad Ghandour and Xin Jin emerged victorious in the Asia-Pacific Trofeo Pirelli Am and Coppa Shell classes respectively.
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