Eaves Dominates Race 3 at Croft

The Honda Integra driver led the race from start to finish, converting his pole position into a first lap lead.

Eaves' teammate Matt Neal finished second after failing to challenge Eaves on the last lap, having worked his way up from the third row of the grid.

"It was textbook stuff and it wasn't too much of a hard race," Eaves said. "Matt got into second and I was biding my time until the chequered flag fell. I actually started easing off from lap four to save the tyres, car and the engine."

Neal battled hard with SEAT driver James Pickford in the middle of the race, however Neal stalked last year's SEAT Cupra Cup Champion and passed him on the inside of the final hairpin on lap seven. Neal then closed the gap on Eaves, but wasn't able to pass him before the chequered flag.

Neal said: "I thought I had run out of luck at the start of the weekend. I wasn't going to give up, but Eaves drove really well, and I was flat out all the way to the flag."

SEAT's Jason Plato had an impressive run, climbing from 13th place on the grid to third. He too battled hard with Pickford, however despite Pickford trying to protect the position from his Championship chasing teammate, he ran too wide on the last lap at Hawthorns which allowed Plato to get by.

Plato said: "I was told not to overtake James unless I was 100 per cent certain I could pass cleanly. He was in the podium position for the whole race but made a mistake and that's all I needed."

Pickford still finished fourth ahead of MG ZR driver Rob Collard.