Rob Huff claims reverse grid race win at Knockhill

Toyota’s Rob Huff scored his second British Touring Car Championship win of the year at Knockhill, fending off race-long pressure from EXCELr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram.

However, the 2012 World touring Car Champion had to withstand constant pressure throughout, with Ingram briefly gaining a bonus point for leading a lap when he drew alongside – and edged in front – of Huff going onto the sixth lap.

The race had to be neutralised for three laps, when on lap 11 Josh Cook was involved in the thick of a fierce battle for fourth.

With Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith holding the place, but acting as a cork-in-the-bottle, Aiden Moffat made a late dive inside for the place at Clark corner.

Ash Sutton followed past for fifth, and Cook duly followed suit along the back straight. Cook then attacked Sutton around the outside at the hairpin, but the Speedworks driver was tapped into a slide which he saved.

Cook’s lost speed allowed BMW’s Adam Morgan to draw alongside, and the pair went side-by-side into Duffus Dip the next lap around. Contact sent Cook onto the grass, cutting the corner sideways and rejoining, only for the slowed Cook to be tagged into the tyre stack at the chicane by Jake Hill’s BMW.

Cook spun out of the race into the gravel, and the safety car was called to move the tyre bale back into place.

When the race resumed, Huff held off Ingram with aplomb to record a fourth career BTCC win by 1.395 seconds from Ingram, who regained the championship lead with second.

Tom Chilton made it two EXCELR8 drivers on the podium with third, having overtaken Taylor-Smith for the place on lap seven and held station for the rest of the race.

Sutton was fourth, getting ahead of Moffat in the mêlée on lap 12, with Laser Tools Racing’s Hill taking fifth, having steadily progressed up the order during the race from 12^th on the grid.

NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom claimed sixth, having largely followed Hill’s progress through the field after the BMW driver got the jump on him at the start.

Moffat slipped to seventh behind the aforementioned duo a couple of laps after the safety car restart, with NAPA’s Dan Cammish claiming eighth.

The top ten was completed by race one winner Colin Turkington, who struggled to make progress after taking steps forward and backwards in the mid-pack battles, and EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson, who broke into the top ten for the fifth time this year.

After running fourth early on, Taylor-Smith plummeted six places alone on lap 11 and ultimately took the finish in 13^th, whilst team-mate Mikey Doble failed to take the start.

BMW’s Morgan was running in sixth when he retired on the lap after the restart, pulling off to the side of the circuit.

Despite a difficult weekend, Ingram continues to lead the standings with 278 points, ahead of Hill (275), Sutton (258), Cammish (236), Turkington (224) and Cook (222).

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	25:48.020	51.791	1
2	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	1.395	51.100	3
3	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	1.855	51.981	4
4	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	27	2.614	52.159	8
5	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	27	2.972	52.127	12
6	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	27	4.199	52.345	11
7	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	11.142	52.452	5
8	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	27	12.197	52.026	6
9	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	27	12.307	52.158	10
10	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	15.026	52.275	20
11	18	I		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	27	18.254	52.293	16
12	29	I		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	27	18.948	52.552	19
13	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	27	29.500	51.892	2
14	222	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	27	38.205	52.622	13
15	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	27	40.155	52.750	17
16	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	26	+ 1 LAP	52.623	15
R	11	M		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	23	NCF	51.996	14
R	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	16	DNF	52.101	7
R	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	12	DNF	52.243	9
NS	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	DNS	N/A	18