The Abarth 2009 Year in Review
You’d think a manufacturer with only two models to its name wouldn’t have much to crow about in a single year. You’d be wrong. We take a look back at the key developments of 2009, and cast our gaze towards 2010 – already shaping up to be a bumper year of scorpion activity.
The 2010 Event Calendar
We’ve been busily piecing together the event calendar for 2010. Of course the big crowd-pleasers – the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Goodwood Revival, and the Auto Italia events – are all present and correct. For 2010, however, we have the added excitement of seven rounds of the new Trofeo Abarth 500 GB to look forward to.
Abarthisti to support the 2010 Trofeo Abarth 500 GB
Abarthisti will be supporting the Trofeo Abarth 500 GB race series that’s due to start in the spring of 2010. The Abarthisti logo will be carried by at least one car in the series, the first of which is that belonging to the Vospers/Pulce Racing team which took delivery of their car at Brands Hatch this weekend.
Basso and Dotta win the European Rally Championship for Abarth
Giandomenico Basso and Mitia Dotta won the 2009 European Rally Championship in their Abarth Grande Punto S2000. With their second place at the Rallye du Valais, they extended their lead over Peugeot’s Michal Solowow to 22 points. This is Basso and Dotta’s second championship title, having already been crowned in 2006, also at the wheel of an Abarth Grande Punto S2000.
The 2010 Trofeo Abarth 500 GB
The Trofeo Abarth 500 GB race series was officially launched last week at Silverstone, with selected guests, drivers and race teams invited to inspect, admire and test the Abarth 500 Assetto Corse race cars, while learning more about the proposed 2010 series. Among the guests were comedian Patrick Kielty and supermodel Jodie Kidd.
Emanuele Moncini wins the Trofeo Abarth 500 Europe
Emanuele Moncini claimed the Abarth 500 Selenia European Trophy by winning the last two races at Imola, beating fellow Italian Manuel Villa by a whisker. Villa was leading the championship prior to the last round. However, Moncini’s back-to-back victories in the last two races allowed him to pull out the slimmest of leads – only three points – to claim the championship title.
