Samuele Buttarelli became the sixth winner in six Auto GP races this season in Race 2 at Brno, scoring his maiden victory in the series.
The Italian slipped from second on the grid to third at the start of the race, but he would soon have the lead. DAMS teammates Sergei Afanasiev and Rio Haryanto led the way at the start, but Afanasiev lost control at Turn 3 and went off into the travel. This distracted the chasing Haryanto which allowed Buttarelli to slip up the inside and take the lead.
From there the TP Formula driver controlled the race well until taking the checkered flag at the end of the 13th lap, crossing the line 2.3 seconds ahead of Haryanto.
“The Monza podium was a big emotion already, so I can't really explain how this win feels,” said Buttarelli. “The race has been tough at the start, when I wasn't good off the line. Then I managed to pass Rio and I just focused on stretching the gap lap after lap. I want to say thanks to the TP Formula guys, they gave me a great car.”
For Haryanto, his second place was welcome after a poor strategy prevented him from winning the earlier race.
“I'm really happy, this success it's a little payback for this morning,” he said. “I had a very good start, but in the second corner I was fighting with Sergei and we outbraked each other, missing the line. For Buttarelli passing was easy, and then he was very good in quickly building that gap. I focused on keeping second place, and I'm satisfied with it.”
A strong start allowed Race 1 winner Luca Filippi to finish in third place and complete the podium.
“Starting from the back in Race 2 the only chance you have is a great start because then in the race it's very difficult to recover,” said Filippi. “I was very good off the line and I squeezed through the group that was spreading to avoid [Super Nova teammate Jon] Lancaster.
“I could have pushed more in the first corners but I didn't want to take any risk of spoiling my weekend, so I decided that third was enough. I'm also happy about my championship lead. I will miss the Oschersleben round due to a clash with GP2 so I need all the points I can get.”
Fabrizio Crestani finished in fourth place for Lazarus, just ahead of teammate Fabio Onidi. Lancaster recovered from his poor start to finish sixth, ahead of Kevin Ceccon. Adrien Tambay, Afanasiev and Marco Barba rounded out the top ten.
Filippi's strong weekend has put him top of the standings, 11 points ahead of Ceccon with previous leader Giovani Venturini 25 adrift after a point-less weekend. The fourth round of the season takes place at Donington Park on 16-17 July.
Race results after 13 laps:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Gap |
1 | Samuele Buttarelli | TP Formula | 22:57.865 |
2 | Rio Haryanto | Dams | 2.318 |
3 | Luca Filippi | Supernova Racing | 2.692 |
4 | Fabrizio Crestani | Lazarus | 11.421 |
5 | Fabio Onidi | Lazarus | 12.676 |
6 | Jon Lancaster | Supernova Racing | 12.996 |
7 | Kevin Ceccon | Ombra Racing | 15.404 |
8 | Adrien Tambay | Gravity – Charouz Dams | 19.274 |
9 | Sergei Afanasiev | Dams | 21.368 |
10 | Marco Barba | Campos Racing | 23.718 |
11 | Giovanni Venturini | Griffitz Durango | 24.905 |
12 | Giuseppe Cipriani | Griffitz Durango | 44.451 |
13 | Pasquale Di Sabatino | TP Formula | 2 laps |
14 | Francesco Dracone | Emmebi | 7 laps |