The "wild rookies" keep shining in Auto GP: Samuele Buttarelli, who already took a podium finish in Monza, confirmed its great potential today in Brno, clinching a great win in Race 2.

The Italian driver, who was starting from 2nd place, didn't have the best possible start but immediately made amends for that overtaking Rio Haryanto and Sergei Afanasiev in Turn 2, and then pulling away boasting a pace that nobody could match. Buttarelli's win was never in doubt, as he quickly stretched his lead to 2" and then controlled his rivals for the rest of the race.

Behind the TP Formula driver was Rio Haryanto: the Indonesian driver showed again his great competitiveness on this track, and got a little revenge on misfortune after what happened in the morning race: Rio revealed that the reason why he couldn't get into the pits at the right moment in Race 1 was a radio malfunction that didn't allow the team to call him in. In Race 2 there was no bad luck and Haryanto had a staggering start that immediately gave him the chance to challenge Afanasiev for the lead in Turn 2, a fight that the Indonesian driver won.

Third place went to Luca Filippi, again very quick at the start: the Italian driver of SuperNova made the most of the chaos caused by a slow start of his team-mate Jon Lancaster: while everybody else went wide to avoid the Brit, Luca chose a much straighter line to pass him and got to P3 starting 8th.

With this third place Luca also won the weekend classification, meaning that he will bring home 60.000 euros, with Fabrizio Crestani winning 25.000 euros and Samuele Buttarelli getting the 15.000 euros of 3rd place.

Crestani was 4th, completing a very good weekend that allowed him to close the gap on his rivals in the standings: Fabrizio had a very strong fight for P4 with Pasquale Di Sabatino, until the TP Formula driver had to retire due to a loose radio box that was hampering his driving. Crestani finished ahead of team mate Fabio Onidi, who boasted a great recovery from 10th place on the grid, and Jon Lancaster, again in the points.

Kevin Ceccon, closed the race in seventh place, posting the fastest lap of the race and stretching his lead in the Under 21 Standings, making the most of a bad weekend from Adrien Tambay and Giovanni Venturini: the two started from the back due to the Race 1 retirement, and were 8th and 11th respectively.

There was even less luck for Bruno Mendez: the Spaniard missed Race 2 because the damages to his car after Race 1 were too heavy to repair them in such a short time.

Samuele Buttarelli:

"The Monza podium was a big emotion already, so I can't really explain how this win feels. 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".

Rio Haryanto:

"I'm really happy, this success it's a little payback for this morning's reception. I had a very good start, but in the second corner I was fighting with Sergei and we outbrake 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. I'm also happy because thanks to the guys at DAMS I'm really understanding the car, and I'm sure that we will keep this level of performance also in the next races".

Luca Filippi:

"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. I was very good off the line and I squeezed through the group that was spreading to avoid 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 3rd 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".

Brno, 19 June, Race 2

1 Samuele BUTTARELLI TP Formula 22:57.865, media 183.51 kph
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 Motorsport +7 LAPS

Fastest Lap: Kevin Ceccon in 1'44"684, speed 185.80 kph

Weekend Classification:

1. Filippi 60.000 euro (35 p.), 2. Crestani 25.000 (26 p.) 3. Buttarelli 15.000 (24p.)

Drivers Championship:

1. Filippi 74; 2. Ceccon 63; 3. Venturini 49; 4. Afanasiev e Onidi 44; 6. Tambay e Buttarelli 40; 8. Crestani 32; 9. Haryanto 29; 10. Di Sabatino 21.

Under 21 Championship:

1. Ceccon 95; 2. Buttarelli 69; 3. Venturini 65; 4. Haryanto 58; 5. Tambay 57; 6. Mendez 46; Bizzarri 10.

Team Championship:

1. DAMS 106. 2. SuperNova 94; 3. Lazarus 76; 4. Ombra 69; 5. TP Formula 55; 6. Griffitz Durango 51; 7. Campos Racing 36; 8. Emmebi 1.

All pictures Auto GP.

Samuele Buttarelli.



Rio Haryanto.



Luca Filippi.



Fabrizio Crestani.



Fabio Onidi.



Jon Lancaster.



Kevin Ceccon.



Adrien Tambay.



Race 2 start.



Race 2 podium.