The 2010 Zing Trofeo Abarth 500 GB season was the inaugural edition of the series. It began at Oulton Park on 5 April and finished after seven events at Autodromo Nazionale Monza on 24 October. The championship was won by Ben Winrow, driving for Team Pyro. The team title was won by Mardigras motorsport. The championship was organised and managed by the company CTC (calleatechcenter) Ltd. The series was launched on 22 October in Silverstone, where six 500 AC (assetto corsa) race cars were presented to the press and competitors. The championship was contested over seven rounds, each composed by two races. The championship calendar was composed by different events: British GT, Formula 2, British superbike, Lotus festival, DTM, Silverstone Classic and the Italian Ferrari Challenge. The permit holder was MotorSport Vision. The manager of the series was Paolo Callea, previous British GT manager.
Teams and drivers All drivers competed in Abarth 500 Assetto Corses. Guest drivers in italics. Team No. Drivers Rounds Mardi Gras Motorsport 2 Paul Smith 1–6 51 7 3 Stefan Hodgetts 2–6 52 7 Team Pyro 4 Ben Winrow 1–6 53 7 54 Josh Wakefield 7 Advent Motorsport 7 Charlie Butler-Henderson 1–6 9 Gareth Howell 2 45 Josh Wakefield 1–6 55 James Blyth 1–2 Unknown 8 Chris Stockton 2 Jeremy McWilliams 3 Tech 9 Tony Dron 1 9 Gareth Howell 1 Lipscombe Motorsport 3 Unknown 10 Chris Smith 5 Pulce Racing Darren Burke 6 13 Marco Pullen 5 22 Benny Simonsen 1–2, 5–6 49 Simon Baker 6 Reflex Racing GB 11 Sarah Franklin 1–2, 4–6 Coastal Racing 12 Carl Bradley 5 Rockingham Cars Craig Dawson 6 77 Roger Green 2 Abarth UK 49 John Gaw 2 77 Alistair Barclay 4 Lunar Racing 72 Cassey Watson 1–6 93 John Williams 1 Redline Racing 77 Jason Greatrex 1 CMS 81 Matt Shead 1–6 82 Fiona Leggate 1–3
Calendar and winners Round Circuit Date Pole position Fastest lap Winning driver Winning team Supporting 1 R1 Oulton Park (International), Cheshire 5 April Ben Winrow Benny Simonsen Gareth Howell Tech 9 British F3 & GT R2 Benny Simonsen Gareth Howell Tech 9 2 R3 Silverstone Circuit (Bridge GP), Northamptonshire 18 April Ben Winrow Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport FIA Formula Two R4 Stefan Hodgetts Ben Winrow Team Pyro 3 R5 Cadwell Park, Lincolnshire 23 May Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport British Superbikes R6 Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport 4 R7 Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit, Norfolk 27 June Stefan Hodgetts Ben Winrow Ben Winrow Team Pyro Formula Palmer Audi R8 Ben Winrow Ben Winrow Team Pyro 5 R9 Silverstone Circuit (Classic GP), Northamptonshire 25 July Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport Silverstone Classic R10 Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport 6 R11 Brands Hatch (Indy), Kent 5 September Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport DTM R12 Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport 7 R13 Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza* 24 October Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe R14 Josh Wakefield Stefan Hodgetts Mardi Gras Motorsport Combination event with the European & Italian series.
Championship standings Points were awarded on a 21, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 3, 2, 1 basis to the top 12 finishers in each race, with one bonus point for the fastest lap in each race. A driver's six best weekend scores counted towards the championship. Dropped scores are shown in brackets. Pos Driver OUL SIL CAD SNE SIL BRA MON Pts 1 Ben WinrowRet(3)212211222233 224 (240) 2 Stefan Hodgetts1Ret112Ret111111 215 3 Charlie Butler-Henderson244333543334 182 4 Josh Wakefield5654(6)(6)33444322 175 (195) 5 Paul Smith6Ret7554RetDNS8766RetRet 94 6 Gareth Howell11324Ret 90 7 Cassey Watson8109998425RetNC9 78 8 Benny Simonsen3268126RetRet 70 9 Matt Shead91186756Ret7RetRetRet 63 10 Sarah Franklin11910108599810 57 11 Fiona LeggateRet7DSQ1187 25 12 Craig Dawson55 24 13 Jason Greatrex75 20 14 Alistair Barclay76 18 15 Simon Baker78 14 16 James Blyth4RetNCDNS 14 17 Darren BurkeRet7 8 18 John Williams12DNS 2Guest drivers ineligible for points Carl Bradley105 0 Chris Smith68 0 Roger GreenRet7 0 Tony Dron108 0 Marco Pullen11Ret 0 John GawRetDNS 0 Chris StocktonDSQDNS 0 Jeremy McWilliamsDNSDNS 0 Pos Driver OUL SIL CAD SNE SIL BRA MON PtsBold - Pole Italics - Fastest lap
Abarth 500 Celebrity Challenge A celebrity race was held on the Friday of the Silverstone Classic meeting in aid of the CRUK Bobby Moore Fund. It was won by Rick Parfitt Jr. Pos Driver Time/Gap Grid1 Rick Parfitt Jr. 9 Laps in 22'00.012s 12 Neil Primrose +3.221s 23 Paul O'Duffy +18.149s 64 James Martin +18.558s 55 Luther Blissett +22.312s 36 Tom Chambers +31.736s 47 Richard Allinson +1'13.098s 78 Mark Gardener +1'13.430s 109 Brendan Cole +1'13.724s 910 Charles Brocket +1'22.727s 1111 Johnnie Walker +2'11.653s 12NC Heston Blumenthal +3 laps 8NC Beth Walker +4 laps -Ret Jonny Saunders Retired 13
External links Series website Organiser website