It has been a weekend of incredible stories in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton with Rob Huff's first BTCC win in 20 years headlining the final encounter in Norfolk.
There has been much talk about Huff's most recent BTCC win – at Snetterton way back in 2004 – so for a man that lives around half an hour from the circuit it was arguably written in the stars that he would repeat the trick here today.
An incredible race began with Jake Hill looking like he would score an historic hat-trick as the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport star gambled on the Goodyear wet tyres from ninth on the grid. Hill blasted by the entire field on the opening lap and began pulling away from the slick-shod runners, bringing the only other car on wets – Andrew Watson's Toyota – with him.
It looked like it could be a masterclass from Hill and that he might be joining the very short shortlist of just Dan Eaves and Jason Plato to win three BTCC races in the same day.
The crossover happened around mid-distance, however, as the dry Goodyear tyres were now quicker than the wets.
The chasing pack reeled them in, and after TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK's Huff had fought off LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ stablemate Josh Cook and dodged a half-slide from Aiden Moffat, he was soon past Hill and into the lead.
Hill began to fade as Speedworks romped on to an incredible result, with Huff leading home Moffat and Cook for memorable 1-2-3 for Toyota.
Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS' Tom Ingram was fourth, ahead of Ash Sutton, who surged through from the back of the grid in his #1 NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus.
Tom Chilton was sixth, ahead of the BMW trio of Colin Turkington (Team BMW), Bobby Thompson (Zeus Cloud Racing with WSR) and Hill, whilst Mikey Doble (Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing) completed the top ten positions.
Rob Huff, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK, said: "Race 3 here at Snetterton does it again for me at my home track. I genuinely didn't know I was leading, I knew I was coming through, I was just picking them off one-by-one but I didn't quite know where we were. The car was fantastic, it's safe to say we were dialled into that today and to win here at my home track is just mega! The car was exactly what I've been searching for so far this year, what a race!"
