Around one thousand Abarth sports cars covering all eras of the famous Scorpion brand rolled into the Franciacorta circuit near Brescia at the weekend for the first officially organised Abarth Race Day. In all more than three thousand people attended this one-day event which saw a series of activities organised on- and off-track.

While the "new generation" of Scorpion models, the derivatives of Abarth Grande Punto and Abarth 500, were the most numerical in the car parks of the Autodromo di Franciacorta, the glittering history of the marque was very well represented by many evocative past models that have gone on to become automotive legends, including the 595 and 695 esseesse, 850 and 1000 TC, 124 Abarth Sport Spider, Ritmo Abarth and Autobianchi A112 Abarth.

All the cars that attended had the opportunity to get out on the recently-built race track, which is mostly used for testing, while the highlight of the special day was the demonstrations turned in by the Scorpion’s three rally stars, newly-crowned FIA European Rally Champion Giandomenico Basso, running alongside his factory team mates Luca Rossetti, who joined the team from Peugeot Italia at the start of this season, and youngster Umberto Scandola. As well as getting out on track behind the wheel of the potent the Super2000 class Abarth Grande Punto winning rally machine, the trio also demonstrated the Abarth 500 Assetto Corse racer used in the new race series this year and the brand-new Abarth 500 R3T rally car which will be the basis of a championship on the special stages next year.

Visitors were also able to undertake test drives with instructors from the Sandro Munari Abarth Driving School and on display in the paddock were the two latest models from the Scorpion: the Abarth 695 "Tributo Ferrari", a limited-edition exclusive version of the Abarth 500 which was realised in conjunction with the Maranello sports car maker and which debuted at the Frankfurt IAA, alongside the new Abarth Grande Punto "SuperSport".

The competitors of the inaugural Trofeo Abarth 500 took to the track for a special race which in particular pitted the champions and runners of the two series’ this year against each other for a season grand finale. Salvatore Tavano who won the Italian version of the Trofeo Abarth 500 and Emanuele Moncini who triumphed in the pan-European challenge as anticipated went head-to-head over the 21 lap race at the front of the pack and after a tough race-long duel honours went to the former.

The services of the safety car was also called upon, after Alex Campani and Manuel Lasagni clashed, which created more thrills-and-spills as the tyres had gone cold on the tiny racers by the time the track went green again.

The final podium position of the half-hour race eventually was resolved in the favour Matteo Milani to make it an all-Italian rostrum while Adam Jones, who has guested in the little 500 Assetto Corse racer this year, was the fourth place finisher, the Englishman setting the fastest lap of the race along the way in 1 minute and 21.801 seconds, an average speed of 110.859 km/h. Meanwhile a tough battle for the next finishing slot between Alan Simoni and Italian rally star Andrea Dallavilla was eventually decided in the former’s favour.

Race classification: 1. Salvatore Tavano 21 laps in 32’32”694, average speed 97,524 km/h; 2. Emanuele Moncini + 1”411; 3. Matteo Milani + 5”126; 4. Adam Jones + 8”287; 5. Alan Simoni + 17”967; 6. Andrea Dallavilla + 18”984; 7. Franco Cimarelli + 19”968; 8. Tobias Tauber + 55”870; 9. Michela Cerruti + 1’11”265; 10. Paolo Scudieri + 1’18”033; 11. Giovanni Ciraso + 1’20”463; 12. Luca Cassol + 1 lap. Fastest lap: Adam Jones in 1’21”801, average speed 110,859 km/h.