Abarth: Hodgetts double can’t deny Winrow title

Stefan Hodgetts won twice at the Trofeo Abarth 500 GB season-finale at Monza, but couldn’t deny rival Ben Winrow the title.

The event at the iconic Italian venue saw the British, Italian and European championships combine for the weekend and Hodgetts proved to be the pace setter right from qualifying where he took pole position.

In race 1, the 28-year-old led from lights-to-flag to finish ahead of European competitor Adam Jones, former F1 driver Giorgio Pantano, who races in the Italian championship, and European racer Nicola Baldan.

Josh Wakefield was an impressive fifth overall, while Paul Smith missed the GB championship podium after crashing late on.

Points leader Winrow suffered a big scare early on when a technical problem on the warm-up lap meant he had to start from the pit lane, but the Pyro Motorsport man fought back to finish ninth overall and clinch the inaugural Trofeo Abarth 500 GB title.

Race 2 was a thriller as Hodgetts, Pantano and Jones fought nose-to-tail throughout, swapping positions several times before Pantano eventually came out on top when Hodgetts ran through the gravel at Variante Ascari.

Although he fought back to pass Jones, Hodgetts couldn’t reel in the Italian and settled for second overall and another GB championship win.

Wakefield finished second of the GB runners with Winrow third after another strong run to ninth overall. Another promising race for Smith ended in frustration as he spun out of fifth and retired.

Watch Trofeo Abarth 500 GB highlights on Motors TV.


Andy Wilkinson

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