Aiden Moffat delivered his first rear-wheel drive victory in the British Touring Car Championship at Croft, as he converted his pole position into a win, leaving the Laser Tools Racing driver relieved to return to the top step.
Moffat, who had not won a race since the end of 2018, had claimed a first outright pole position on Saturday, and the Infiniti driver duly went on to convert that into a lights-to-flag win on Sunday.
The 24-year-old came under sustained pressure from Jake Hill throughout the race, but he was able to hold off the MB Motorsport driver for a fourth career win in the BTCC.
“It’s my first win in rear-wheel drive, so I can’t really use the excuse that it was anything to do with the car, watching Ash [Sutton] do it week in, week out,” said Moffat.
“It’s nice to finally get our first win in rear-wheel drive and reward the team for putting up with me!”
Moffat praised the drive of his rival Hill, who had kept him on his toes throughout the race, with Moffat having to twice break free of the pack due to a mid-race safety car intervention.
“Jake and the Focus have been so fast all year; I knew my life was going to be very difficult. From Sunny In and Sunny Out was where I was really struggling.
“The car was quick there yesterday, but it was so on the edge it was easy to create understeer or oversteer, and being in the lead I thought I’d rather just dial it back, defend, and try and use the traction, so we had to think about that race a lot.
“He made it difficult which is just what makes it more rewarding to get that first win in rear-wheel drive for Laser Tools Racing.”
The Scot followed up his race one win with second in race two, despite carrying the maximum 75 kg of success ballast, and sixth in the final race of the day.
Moffat has never raced with as much ballast on his car before, and he admitted it had been tough to defend second, as Hill cleared off into the distance after passing him on the opening lap.
“It was definitely hard, not being used to carrying the 75 kg, and at some parts of the track I thought ‘this is not too bad’ and at other parts you really noticed it, like coming off Tower.
“I was always under pressure through the [Jim Clark] Esses with the quicker cars behind. It was difficult – I had to really park it up, but when you’re in that position you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do!
“I’m sure it’s frustrating for people behind me, but we did what we needed to for Laser Tools Racing.”
Moffat has moved up to seventh overall in the drivers’ championship standings after his best-ever weekend in the BTCC.