Round 3 & 4 Trofeo Abarth 500 GB – Silverstone

The Trofeo Abarth 500 GB rolled into Northamptonshire at the weekend, hoping to build on a successful opening round at Oulton Park at Easter. The series had managed to expand its numbers to 15 entries for this round with the addition of British GT driver John Gaw and Roger Green in guest cars and ex-BTCC driver Stefan Hodgetts entering the series in a Mardi Gras prepared machine.
It was Hodgetts who looked to have secured pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session, before Ben Winrow trumped him late on in the session, with championship leader and double winner from Oulton Park, Gareth Howell in third, albeit a second adrift.
The only change between the top three in race one was Hodgetts getting the jump on Winrow to claim his maiden Trofeo victory with Charlie Butler-Henderson following the trio home in fourth place ahead of Josh Wakefield and Benny Simonsen. Hodgetts also managed to post the fastest lap of the race to ensure he would start from pole for race two.
Winrow, starting from second in race two powered past Hodgetts at the start and the two pulled clear of Howell until Hodgetts retired with an engine problem, promoting Howell to second and Butler-Henderson to third, with Wakefield and Paul Smith rounding out the top five. It was a deserved first win of the season for former Clio Cup champ Winrow, who had been luckless in the opener in Cheshire, after falling off on lap one of the first race had left him with an uphill struggle for the rest of the weekend. “Stef’s a great driver, so once I got him, I just had to concentrate and put my head down and try to build a lead,” said Winrow after race two, “then it was a case of protecting the tyres and hanging on for the win.”
Howell leads the championship after four rounds, with a sixteen point lead over Advent team mate Butler-Henderson, Winrow is in third a further four back. Howell knows, however, that he needs to be closer to the pace of Hodgetts and Winrow, “I’m in front now, but I can’t keep following the boot-lids of these guys for much longer or they will creep ahead.” He will get the chance to put things straight when the series resumes at Cadwell Park in support of the British Superbike Championship on May 23rd & 24th.

2010 Trofeo Abarth 500 GB – Oulton Park

Easter weekend saw the Trofeo Abarth 500 GB spring into life at Oulton Park and the signs were very encouraging for the fledgling one make series with some great racing from not only drivers who have made their names in some of the UK’s top racing series’, but also from a new breed of stars, most notably Denmark’s Benny Simonsen, who was fantastic in his first ever outing in a car race. Race one pole sitter, 2008 Clio Cup champion Ben Winrow, didn’t come back over Hilltop on lap 1, which handed the lead to ex-BTCC race winner Gareth Howell, who pulled a decent lead from James Blyth and Charlie Butler-Henderson, the latter having taken over the car due to be driven by sister Vicky, of Fifth Gear fame, who was away on presenting duties. Simonsen had spun at Old Hall on lap one, and went about carving his way through the field with great effect as he eventually relieved Blyth of third place late on. CBH by that time had got up into second place which he held on to, despite a late charge from Simonsen, who recorded the fastest lap in the process. A great first day for the Trofeo, and also for Advent Racing, who ran four of the top five finishers.
With the grid for Race two determined by fastest lap classifications from the first race, Simonsen and Howell lined up on the front row, with Winrow right at the back, having not completed a lap in Race one. Howell took the lead at the first corner and pulled out a good gap to Simonsen in the early laps, before the flying Dane fought his way back and retook the lead at Lodge on lap 6. He managed to hold off Howell until he had a moment at Old Hall on lap 14, where he ran wide and ended up on two wheels, Bond style (watch it http://bit.ly/d3BFq3), allowing Howell to retake the place, the pair were followed home by Winrow, who had made a superb battling effort to get up to third.
The series organisers should be very pleased with the result of their efforts; in a time when one make racing is struggling to attract numbers (see last weekends Clio Cup), 14 entries at the first event, with more in the pipeline, has to be seen as a good result against such a tough economic backdrop. These boys, I feel, are here to stay. Howell will take a six point championship lead over Simonsen to Silverstone on the 17th-18th of April, where the Trofeo will be supporting the opening rounds of the FIA Formula 2 championship.
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