BTCC Snetterton: Huff charges from 14th to win
Former World Touring Car champion Rob Huff scored a sensational win from 14th on the grid to round out the British Touring Car Championship round at Snetterton.
Marcus Simmons
Edited:
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On a damp-but-drying track, Huff had soft slick tyres fitted to his Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Gazoo Racing GB Corolla GR Sport, but so did the sister LKQ Toyotas of Aiden Moffat, who was on the front row of the reversed grid, and Josh Cook, who lined up seventh.
The only drivers to go for wet-weather rubber were Jake Hill, winner of the first two races of the day in his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport, and Andrew Watson in the other Speedworks Toyota – both would have been forced to run the hard slick anyway, a tough proposition on the slippery circuit.
Hill speared his way from ninth in the starting line-up to snatch the lead from Moffat as soon as the Bombhole on the opening lap, after polesitter Sam Osborne had spun his Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST in front of the pack at the very first corner at Riches.
After five laps, Hill was 7.5 seconds in front, but Moffat had just moved ahead of Watson into second place, and the crossover point had arrived.
The scrap between the slick-shod Toyota trio of Moffat, Cook and Huff allowed Hill a little bit more grace at the front.
Huff was flying, but his move around the outside of Cook into the esses pinched the West Countryman onto the wet inside line, and he could not avoid sliding into Huff, who took to the grass and inadvertently passed Moffat before handing the position back to the Scot.
On the eighth lap of 12, Moffat got into a massive slide at Coram and, although he did very well to hold it, it allowed Huff through into second place.
Bobby Thompson, Team BMW
Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Huff then wasted no time hunting down Hill, and half a lap later he sliced inside the BMW at the Agostini hairpin.
On his comeback to the BTCC for the first full season since his rookie campaign in 2004, it was his first win in the series for almost 20 years, the previous one also coming at Snetterton, albeit on the old layout.
“It’s amazing – I didn’t even know we were in the leading group!” said local man Huff. “I just kept pushing on, pushing on, pushing on, and using the hybrid when I needed it.
“When you’ve got a car as good as I had, you’ve got no option than to give it everything, and I did.”
Cook fell back from Moffat in the late stages, and only just held off the medium-tyred Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N of Tom Ingram, who set a succession of fastest laps in the closing stages as he scorched up the order from 16th on the grid to finish fourth.
Ash Sutton, from the very back of the 20-car field and also on medium rubber, came home fifth in his Alliance Ford from the Excelr8 Hyundai of Tom Chilton and retains his championship lead.
Contact on the second lap had flattened the exhaust on the side of the Focus, and began burning the plastic on the passenger side door, which filled the cockpit with fumes and made it difficult for Sutton to see. He needed a trip to the medical centre after the race.
Colin Turkington and Bobby Thompson, both in WSR BMWs but on medium Goodyears and hard respectively, got past Hill late on to take seventh and eighth respectively, with Mikey Doble 10th in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.
The result means that Sutton retains his championship lead, despite no BTCC race wins yet this season, 10 points ahead of Turkington and 11 clear of the tied Ingram and Hill.
BTCC Snetterton - Race 3 result
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| Cla | Driver | # | Car | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Retirement | Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 |
25'37.243 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 | A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 |
+2.338 25'39.581 |
2.338 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 | J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 |
+3.297 25'40.540 |
0.959 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 | T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 12 |
+3.501 25'40.744 |
0.204 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 12 |
+12.830 25'50.073 |
9.329 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors |
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 12 |
+14.169 25'51.412 |
1.339 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | C. Turkington Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 12 |
+16.470 25'53.713 |
2.301 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |
B. Thompson Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR
|
BMW 330e M Sport | 12 |
+19.425 25'56.668 |
2.955 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 | J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport |
BMW 330e M Sport | 12 |
+20.025 25'57.268 |
0.600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
|
Vauxhall Astra | 12 |
+21.864 25'59.107 |
1.839 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 | A. Morgan Team BMW |
BMW 330e M Sport | 12 |
+24.073 26'01.316 |
2.209 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 |
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
|
Cupra León | 12 |
+24.565 26'01.808 |
0.492 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 12 |
+32.149 26'09.392 |
7.584 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 12 |
+34.856 26'12.099 |
2.707 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 |  A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing |
Vauxhall Astra | 12 |
+34.857 26'12.100 |
0.001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK |
Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 |
+46.341 26'23.584 |
11.484 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 |
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
|
Cupra León | 12 |
+46.697 26'23.940 |
0.356 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 |
R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors
|
Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance | 12 |
+52.203 26'29.446 |
5.506 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 | D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK |
Ford Focus ST | 11 |
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| dnf | C. Smiley Restart Racing |
Cupra León | 0 |
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Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| View full results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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