The 1998 Auto Italia Series was held over 10 rounds at a selection of racetracks in the UK.

The major interest for Stratos enthusiasts was the year long battle between Alfa V6-powered Stratos Replicas of John Rutter and Chris Snowdon, which was not resolved until the very final event of the season. A third Stratos Replica, powered by a Thema Turbo engine and driven by Paul Fletcher, appeared at two of the events.

These 3 cars were competing in Class B of the championship which saw them pitted against a variety of  Ferraris, and Alfa Romeos.

John Rutter(77) and Chris Snowdon(28) racing wheel to wheel.

In the early part of the season, the more experienced Chris Snowdon held the edge over John Rutter for Class B honours, which was probably only to be expected as this was John's first season of racing!!!

Several of the races were held in attrocious weather conditions, and John Rutter managed to put in a very reliable season to keep him in with a chance of a class victory.

Going into the final race of the season at Donington Park, after the qualifying points for the race had been calculated, only Chris Snowdon or John Rutter could win Class B, with Chris needing to win, or be second in class in the race to take victory, while John had the knowledge that 4th in class or higher would give him victory regardless of Chris's result.

The race started out dry, but then the weather changed, and heavy rain made the circuit treacherous. Chris held an early lead in the dry conditions but then suffered from clutch problems.

John drove a very tactical race in the slippery conditions to take 3rd In Class, and 6th overall, to give him the points he needed to claim the class victory for the season. An extremely impressive result for a first season of racing!! - Congratulations, John.

  John Rutter leads around the Donington chicane.