TP Formula's Samuele Buttarelli secured his first Auto GP series victory in the second race at Brno, having led proceedings from the early stages.
Buttarelli initially lost position to Rio Haryanto after making a poor getaway from his front row grid position. The fast-starting Haryanto made an ambitious move around the outside of Turn 1 before setting off in pursuit of polesitter and fellow DAMS driver Sergei Afanasiev. A mistake by Afanasiev into Turn 3 momentarily distracted his Indonesian teammate, allowing Buttarelli to squeeze back past Haryanto on the inside.
After a shaky start, the TP Formula driver soon got the hammer down, opening up a two and a half second lead and taking the checkered flag with ease.
"I'm really, really happy because it's my first win," said Buttarelli. "Thirteen laps without a [pitstop] is really difficult at the end, but the car was perfect. Everything is really good."
After radio problems cost him a near-certain debut victory in race one, Haryanto was still pleased to secure his first Auto GP podium at only his third event.
Luca Filippi followed up his victory in race one by taking the final step of the podium, an electric start for the Italian launching him from eighth to third on the first lap. The result has strengthened Filippi's position at the top of the standings.
A terrific scrap for fourth place - which at one stage had five cars nose-to-tail - was led for the majority of race distance by Pasquale di Sabatino, who produced his strongest of the season at Brno. After defending hard from the squabbling pack behind, mechanical issues befell the TP Formula driver at half-distance, and he toured in to retire on the penultimate lap.
Fabrizio Crestani cemented his best Auto GP weekend to date by taking fourth, with Lazarus teammate Fabio Onidi finishing close behind in fifth. After bogging down badly at the start, Jon Lancaster produced another fighting drive through the field to secure sixth, ahead of Kevin Ceccon.
Adrien Tambay (DAMS) pulled a late-braking move on the penultimate lap to deny teammate Afanasiev eighth place, while Marco Barba bounced back from his race one startline accident to round out the top 10.
Results - 13 laps:
Pos Driver Team Time/Gap
1. Samuele Buttarelli TP 22m57.865s
2. Rio Haryanto DAMS + 2.318s
3. Luca Filippi Super Nova + 2.692s
4. Fabrizio Crestani Lazarus + 11.421s
5. Fabio Onidi Lazarus + 12.676s
6. Jon Lancaster Super Nova + 12.996s
7. Kevin Ceccon Ombra + 15.404s
8. Adrien Tambay Gravity-Charouz/DAMS + 19.274s
9. Sergei Afanasiev DAMS + 21.368s
10. Marco Barba Campos + 23.718s
11. Giovanni Venturini Durango + 24.905s
12. Giuseppe Cipriani Durango + 44.451s
Retirements:
Pasquale di Sabatino TP 11 laps
Francesco Dracone Emmebi 6 laps