Hynes puts on Silverstone show

The two Britons put on a fantastic race, with Button ducking and diving behind Hynes in a bid to land victory in the series' most prestigious round, supporting the British Grand Prix.

Eventually, 21-year-old Hynes had just enough in hand to keep his Manor Motorsport Dallara-Mugen Honda ahead of the Promatecme Dallara-Renault of 19-year-old Button, taking victory by less than 0.4 seconds.

Button made the best start from second on the grid, but a great move by Hynes down the inside into Club Corner on the first lap proved decisive.

'I thought, 'This is the only chance I might get',' said Hynes. 'I went for a bit of a lunge and that was it. I pulled quite a good move.'

Throughout the rest of the race, Hynes would pull out a gap through the fast Copse and Becketts corners early in the lap, with Button hauling him in through the slower stuff.

Several times Button nosed inside at the Luffield right-hander at the end of the lap, but could never quite get alongside.

'Most of the race I was larging it through Copse and that sorted me out for the rest of the lap,' grinned Hynes.

'I knew that as long as I didn't make a mistake there I'd be sweet.'

A happy Button, who has had problems with his starts, said, 'I was happy to get away first in front of all the Formula 1 teams!

'The first half of the race the track was really slippery and I was all over the place, and that's when he pipped me. It's nice to be back at the front again, but Marc drove well. All credit to him.'

Hynes's victory also gave him back the championship lead from Brazilian Luciano Burti, who shadowed the leading pair throughout the race but had to settle for third in his Stewart Racing Dallara-Mugen.

'I pushed but then the car started to oversteer,' he said, 'not just a little bit either. I nearly spun twice so I said to myself, 'Let's back off and finish third and maybe they'll have a go at each other'.'

A lonely race gave Dane Kristian Kolby fourth place in the lead Fortec Motorsport Dallara-Mugen, although he might have had a harder time from Indian Narain Karthikeyan if the Carlin Motorsport driver hadn't spent several laps trying to work out a way past Toby Scheckter.

Karthikeyan eventually made a superb move around the inside of the Priory left-hander, but fifth was as far as he would get.

Scheckter was then reeled in by Matt Davies.

The South African had a weak battery over the closing laps, and then lost out tactically to the charging Davies a few corners from the finish in the battle for sixth.

Scotsman Andrew Kirkaldy also ran with this group, but a spin dropped him to 12th behind Tim Spouge, Michael Bentwood, Doug Bell and Alex Yoong.