Italian Manuel Villa and Czech Petr Fulin respectively won the first and the second races of the second round of the Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe which took place at Brno over the weekend, a result that sees the former leaving the Czech circuit as the  clear championship points leader.

The first of the two Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe races took place on Saturday, with the series for the identical-specification Scorpion racers once again supporting the FIA World Touring Car Championship. Starting from pole position, Villa kept in the lead all the way to the chequered flag, finishing ahead of young fellow countryman Enrico Fulgenzi while local driver Petr Fulin claimed the last step on the podium. Although he was overtaken by Portuguese Jorge Rodrigues in one of the opening corners, Villa rapidly managed to reclaim first position and to impose his pace. He thus gained a small advantage that he managed outstandingly for the duration of the race, eventually repelling an attack from Fulgenzi in the very last corner of the race. Starting from the fifth grid spot, Fulgenzi immediately climbed up to second to try and catch Villa for the lead. Czech driver Petr Fulin started from the back of the grid but achieved a fine race performance that allowed him to finish third.

However, the Czech driver displayed his best performance on Sunday afternoon when he won the second race. Fulin proved he had the right feeling with the 190 bhp Abarth 500 Assetto Corse machine. Starting from the front row, he took the lead of the 7 lap race during the fourth lap when he overtook the race one winner, Villa. After having progressively increased the gap, Fulin was able to manage his race to finish ahead of Italian Fulgenzi, another Czech driver, Michael Vorba, and Villa who had slid down the positions. The latter had taken the lead when he had authoritatively overtaken Enrico Fulgenzi and Petr Fulin right after the start. However, he then had to step back and a small mistake towards the end of the race made him lose third place too.

Thanks to his victory in Race 1 and to his fourth place in Race 2 at Brno, Villa takes over the lead of the Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe championship standings from rounds one's double winner Lucas Guerrero who didn't take part in the Czech weekend. The next and third round will take place on July 4th on the Portuguese circuit of Porto.

Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe - Brno, Race 1 Classification: 1. Manuel Villa (I), 7 laps in 17min06.869s; 2. Enrico Fulgenzi (I), +0.165s; 3. Petr Fulin (CZ), +3.496s; 4. Michael Vorba (CZ) +6.418s; 5. Jorge Rodrigues (P) +15.281s; 6. Benoît Perret (F) +19.877s. Fastest lap by Enrico Fulgenzi: 2min25.108s.

Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe - Brno, Race 2 Classification: 1. Petr Fulin (CZ), 7 laps in 17min06.599s; 2. Enrico Fulgenzi (I), +2.296s; 3. Michael Vorba (CZ), +2.981s; 4. Manuel Villa (I), +3.439s; 5. Simone Monforte (I), +6.153s; 6. Benoît Perret (F), +16.703s; 7. Jorge Rodrigues (P), +19.934s; 8. Matous Kubu (C), +24.807s. Fastest lap by Petr Fulin: 2min25.119s.

Abarth 500 European Trophy provisional standings: 1. Manuel Villa (I), 61 points; 2. Lucas Guerrero (E), 43; 3. Petr Fulin (C) and Benoît Perret (F), 38; 5. Enrico Fulgenzi (I), 37.