World Touring Car champion Rob Huff won the Super Touring Shoot-Out at the 83rd Goodwood Members’ Meeting.
The 2012 WTCC title winner set the pace all weekend in the Triple Eight Vauxhall Vectra from the 2000 British Touring Car Championship. He qualified fastest on 1m23.391s and so went last in Sunday’s final, in which each entry had a one-lap shot.
Huff delivered a 1m22.452s to win the celebration of the popular two-litre tin-top era by 1.692 seconds.
“This car is wonderful to drive and I’ve had plenty of practice in this,” said Huff, who – like all runners – had to use wet tyres to help warm-up the rubber quickly enough.
Four-time BTCC champion Colin Turkington qualified fourth but pulled out a 1m24.144s in the only rear-wheel-drive car in the competition, a BMW 320i, to snatch second.
“They all give you the same sort of feeling,” said Turkington of the different eras of BMW he has driven.
Photo by: Gary Hawkins
Turkington’s final effort meant he pipped 74-year-old Steve Soper, who recorded 1m24.606s in Colin Sowter’s Peugeot 406 from 1998. Soper had initially been on course to pip Turkington, but lost out in the final sector.
Triple BTCC champion Matt Neal was fourth in a 1996 Honda Accord, ahead of period champion John Cleland in his 1997 Vauxhal Vectra.
Anthony Reid should have been best-placed to challenge Huff – with one of the Ford Mondeos that the Briton, Alain Menu and Rickard Rydell used to dominate the BTCC in 2000 – but the car was on the rev limiter for far too much of the lap and was slowest.
Triple WTC champion Andy Priaulx qualified third in a 1995 Volvo 850, but was forced to switch to an Alfa Romeo 156 for Sunday. A misfire prevented him from running in the final, though he remained positive about the inaugural Super Touring Shoot-Out, following a similar contest for GT3s last year.
“I grew up with these cars and I’ve really enjoyed the Volvo,” he said. “I love the Shoot-Out – it goes right back to my hillclimb roots.”
For more on the 83rd Members’ Meeting, look out for our full online report and highlights, coming soon, and our special report in the June issue of Autosport magazine, out on 7 May.
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– The Autosport.com Team
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