Sicilian driver Salvatore Tavano dominated both 8-lap Trofeo Abarth 500 races that comprised the second round of the inaugural series held at the Mugello circuit yesterday and he left the race track with a commanding 16 point advantage at the top of the championship points leaderboard. Tavano, who drove for the factory supported N.Technology Alfa Romeo team in the FIA World Touring Car Championship three years ago, had already claimed a  second place finish at Mugello behind the wheel of his 190 bhp Abarth 500 Assetto Corse racer during the opening round of the series at Monza back in March. Sunday's result means he has two wins and one runner up finish from the four races held so far, and last won the last two races consecutively.

Manuel Villa claimed a fourth and seventh place finish yesterday to move into second place in the points standings with 61 points. Villa is the only other driver (along with Nicola Baldan) to have won a race this year having won the opening encounter at Monza at the end of March where he also took a podium finish in the second race. Villa is now just one point ahead of Andrea Rizzoli who took a third and fifth place finish in Mugello while a further point adrift is Baldan who was on the podium in race two yesterday and is another driver to have a consistent finishing record. An eighth and ninth place finish for Alex Campani on Sunday cements his leadership of the under-23 category.

Guest star in the series at the weekend was Paolo Bettini, 34, the retired professional cycle racer who won several major titles during his cycling career, including at Olympic and World Championship-level, and the Italian was considered one of the finest classic riders of his generation. He first shot to the attention of the cycling world by winning the tough Liège-Bastogne-Liège road race in 2000, repeating the same feat two years later. The next year (2003) he set a record for World Cup wins in a single season: three victories coming on the Milan-Sanremo, HEW Cyclassics and Clásica de San Sebastián. Other prestigious wins Bettini claimed during a star-studded career include the Giro di Lombardia (2005 and 2006), the Züri-Metzgete (2001 and 2005) and the Tirreno-Adriatico (2004). He also collected three gold medals: the first coming in the 2004 Olympic Games road race in Athens, which he followed up with golds in the 2006 and 2007 World Road Race Championships.

Bettini already has strong Abarth links: he has been contesting minor Italian rallies recently and will make his Intercontinental Rally Challenge debut shortly at the wheel of a Super 2000 category Grande Punto Abarth on the prestigious Belgium Ypres Rally. At Mugello yesterday he started race one from the twelfth row of the grid having posted the twenty fourth quickest qualifying time and had battled his way up to fifteenth place, and had turned in the twelfth fastest lap of the race, before an incident on the final bend saw him out of race one. With his Abarth 500 Assetto Corse racer quickly patched up he started race two from the six row of the grid and eventually came home in eighteenth spot.

At the green light for race one it was pole sitter Tavano led the horde of identical-specification Abarth 500 Assetto Corse racer cars into the first bend, just ahead of Raffaele Giammaria who had been on the front row of the grid with him, and a very fast starting Andrea Rizzoli. Francesco Iorio, who had set the fourth fastest qualifying time, was forced to start from the pit lane. At the first chicane Michela Cerruti and Luca Previtali tangled and with the youngster's car stranded on the track the Safety Car was immediately called out. The Safety Car went in on lap four and for the final five laps the top three drivers - Tavano, Gammaria and Rizzoli - were able to maintain their positions to the chequered flag.

Race two was a similar story for Tavano as he controlled matters from the front from start to finish. From the outside of the front row Nicola Baldan was able to hold station and lock down second place. Gaimmaria and Rizzoli become locked in an huge tussle for third place and their antics allowed Denis Baubin to sneak through and claim the final podium step. Also worthy of note was youngster Gabriele Larini, the son of the highly successful former Alfa Romeo factory touring car driver Nicola Larini, who was racing in the Trofeo Abarth 500 in the under-23 category.

The next, and third, round of the Trofeo Abarth 500 will be disputed at Imola on 16 and 17 May. With action packed races on Italy's top races circuits of Monza and Mugello already the inaugural series for the little 500 Abarth certainly hasn't disappointed motor sports fans'. On May 30 the  inaugural round of the Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe, will take place at Valencia in Spain where the tiny Abarth 500 Assetto Corse racers will be supporting the FIA World Touring Car Championship.

Trofeo Abarth 500, Mugello, Race 1 Result: 1. Salvatore Tavano 8 laps in 21’40”098 at av. speed of 116,188 km (3 behind the Safety Car); 2. Raffaele Giammaria in 21’41”860; 3. Andrea Rizzoli in 21’45”622; 4. Manuel Villa in 21’46”716; 5. Emanuele Moncini in 21’47”588; 6. Nicola Baldan in 21’47”917; 7. “Yolly” in 21’48”551; 8. Manuel Lasagni in 21’52”430; 9. Alex Campani in 22’01”281; 10. Alessandro Frigerio in 22’01”502.

Trofeo Abarth 500, Mugello, Race 2 Result:  1. Salvatore Tavano 8 laps in 18’14”880 at av. speed of 137,965 km; 2. Nicola Baldan in 18’18”318; 3. Denis Babuin in 18’20”519; 4. Raffaele Giammaria in 18’21”231; 5. Andrea Rizzoli in 18’21”943; 6. Manuel Lasagni in 18’24”172; 7. Manuel Villa in 18’25”295; 8. Alex Campani in 18’25”594; 9. Emanuele Moncini in 18’25”777; 10. “Yolly” in 18’28”139.

Trofeo Abarth 500, Championship Positions (after 2 rounds and 4 races): 1. Salvatore Tavano 77 points; 2. Manuel Villa 61; 3. Andrea Rizzoli 60; 3. Nicola Baldan 59; 5. Raffaele Giammaria 56; 6. Denis Babuin 19; 7. Gianluca Giraudi and Tobias Tauber 17; 9. Enrico Fulgenzi and Emanuele Moncini 16.