Rydell takes Sprint race win

He then went on to drive a faultless 25 laps chased by Aiello to the flag.

'He [Rydell] made no mistakes,' said Aiello, 'I was taking no risks.'

Privateer Matt Neal and David Leslie in his works Nissan provided the rest of the overtaking manoeuvres in the race.

Neal got the drop on Leslie at the start to take fourth, and stayed ahead until the final corner of the last lap when Leslie regained the place.

The leading two opened a good gap on James Thompson early on. He had an uneventful race for third, but was pleased to be back on the podium.

Behind the Neal, Leslie Nissan twins, were the Renaults of Jason Plato & Jean-Christophe Boullion then Anthony Reid [Ford] in sixth, seventh & eighth.

There was little sign of any overtaking between this trio.

Alain Menu dropped out after four laps, and Gabriele Tarquini brought his Honda back in the pits on Lap 13 with a problem.

As usual Neal, [already 99 Independent champion] took the Independents' points, followed a long way back by Will Hoy [13th] and Mark Blair [14th].