BTCC champion Hill beats Huff and Ingram in Goodwood tin-top battle

Reigning British Touring Car champion Jake Hill won a star-studded Gordon Spice Trophy race at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting, beating former World Touring Car champion Rob Huff.

Hill fired Ric Wood’s Ford Capri, which he had qualified second, into the lead at the start of the 20-minute race for 1970-82 Group 1 touring cars of over 2.8 litres. But poleman Andy Priaulx attacked in James Thorpe’s Chevrolet Camaro and powered into the lead down the Lavant Straight on lap two, with Hill briefly edged onto the grass.

The leading duo exchanged fastest laps before water pump failure forced triple WTCC champion Priaulx out as the Camaro overheated.

That allowed Huff, who had dived past fast-starter Romain Dumas’s Ford Mustang at the right-hand part of St Mary’s on lap two, to move into second. Huff edged towards Hill but never got close enough to challenge, finishing 1.3 seconds behind as the two V6 Capris beat the V8 hordes.

“It was a great battle with Andy,” said Hill, who will begin his BTCC title defence at Donington Park at the end of April. “I was hunting him down, trying my hardest; I’m gutted for Andy because he had the pace to win.”

Fellow BTCC champion Tom Ingram came through to third after struggling to get second gear in his Camaro at the start. That meant he fell from third on the grid to seventh on lap one but gradually picked off those ahead – most notably the Volvo 242 of fast-starting triple BTCC champion Gordon Shedden – and overtook Dumas just after half-distance in the 14-lapper.

Dumas, who had used the grass off the line to almost nab second from Priaulx, eventually fell back to sixth. Fourth, behind leading V8 runner Ingram, was therefore Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen, who started seventh in Mike Whitaker’s Rover 3500 SD1.

Another tin-top star, triple BTCC champion Matt Neal, came home fifth in a Camaro, while reigning World Endurance champion Andre Lotterer was seventh in another Capri.

The overall Gordon Spice Trophy will be decided on the aggregate results of Saturday’s race for the professional drivers and Sunday’s race for the owner-entrants.