![Rob Huff, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK [Speedworks Motorsport], Toyota Corolla GR Sport NGTC](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Rnd9_SN_240526_195.jpg "Photo: Peter Still / PSP Images")
Rob Huff scored his first British Touring Car Championship victory in 20 years in a thrilling final race at Snetterton, having fought through the pack from 14th on the grid on a drying track.
One of seven drivers to start the race on the favourable soft tyre, Huff was up to sixth by the end of the second lap, as the early lead was assumed by Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill and Toyota’s Andrew Watson, the only two drivers who started the race on the wet tyre.
Hill, in fact, led for the first two thirds of the race, the BMW driver having leapt from ninth on the grid up to fifth at the start.
When pole-sitter Sam Osborne lost his Ford Focus through the first corner, sending his car sideways in as cloud of tyre smoke, the field had to check up, and Speedworks’ Aiden Moffat emerged as the leader from WSR’s Bobby Thompson.
Hill got by Thompson for second at Agostini, before assuming the lead further around the lap when Moffat went wide at the Bomb Hole.
With Hill quickest in the wet final sector of the lap, he used this to his advantage and extended a lead of seven and a half seconds by lap five.
However his wet tyres soon began to go off, and in the latter stages he was lapping more than six seconds per lap slower than his rivals on dry tyres.
Huff had been embroiled in a four-car scrap with his Toyota colleagues since lap five, and despite some fierce battling with Josh Cook, which resulted in Huff going straight on at The Esses on lap seven, he emerged in second on lap eight, having slipped inside Moffat when he had a huge slide through Coram.
The pass on Hill on the next lap was a breeze due to the tyre advantage for Huff, who took the lead into Agostini and never looked back, although he later admitted that he wasn’t even sure he was leading at this stage.
Moffat held on to take second, with Cook completing the podium in third. The result is Toyota’s first-ever 1-2-3 in the BTCC, and also the first 1-2 since 1992.
EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram was fourth after coming through the field from 16th on the grid, the Hyundai driver making up most of his ground on the opening lap.
NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton was fifth after seizing an opportunistic move past both EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton and the struggling Hill at Agostini, completing a strong drive from the very back of the field to maintain his championship lead, which now stands at ten points.
Chilton took the chequered flag in sixth despite trying to fight back past, ahead of BMW’s Colin Turkington in seventh.
Bobby Thompson took eighth, WSR’s newest BMW signing having dropped back four places on the opening lap, to conclude his maiden WSR weekend with a trio of top ten results for the first time in his BTCC career.
The top ten was completed by the struggling Hill and Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble, who took the Independents’ class victory for the second time in a row.
After starting on the wets, Andrew Watson faded quickly after the mid-stage of the race and finished down in 16th.
NAPA Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom was battling for a top ten result before picking up a puncture early on and falling a lap down.
The only retirement of the race was Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley, who was turned around by Daryl DeLeon on the opening lap after he in turn was tapped by Huff in a moment of mid-pack bunching.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 12 | M |  |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 25:37.243 | 2:02.481 | 14 |
| 2 | 16 | M | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 2.338 | 2:02.697 | 2 |
| 3 | 66 | M | |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 3.297 | 2:02.351 | 7 |
| 4 | 80 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 3.501 | 2:01.251 | 16 |
| 5 | 1 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 12.830 | 2:03.453 | 20 |
| 6 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 14.169 | 2:04.617 | 6 |
| 7 | 20 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 12 | 16.470 | 2:03.758 | 15 |
| 8 | 19 | M | |
Bobby THOMPSON | Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR | BMW 330e M Sport | 12 | 19.425 | 2:02.948 | 3 |
| 9 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 12 | 20.025 | 2:08.458 | 9 |
| 10 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 21.864 | 2:03.145 | 5 |
| 11 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 12 | 24.073 | 2:03.812 | 18 |
| 12 | 18 | I |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 24.565 | 2:05.555 | 10 |
| 13 | 27 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 32.149 | 2:04.876 | 8 |
| 14 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 12 | 34.856 | 2:03.092 | 1 |
| 15 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 12 | 34.857 | 2:04.297 | 12 |
| 16 | 11 | M | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 12 | 46.341 | 2:10.039 | 4 |
| 17 | 29 | I | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 12 | 46.697 | 2:06.370 | 11 |
| 18 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 12 | 52.203 | 2:05.287 | 19 |
| 19 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 11 | + 1 LAP | 2:03.682 | 17 |
| R | 222 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 |
| NS | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | – | DNS | N/A | 21 |