Stewart Whyte fights back from gravel trap to win

Stewart Whyte took victory at the first Super Touring Car Trophy race at Rockingham after an off-track excursion forced him to work back through the field.

Starting from pole, Whyte stormed to the lead ahead of James Dodd, Patrick Watts and John Cleland on the run through Turn 1 and on to Deene Hairpin.

On exit of the hairpin, Dodd ran wide, dropping down to seventh and out of touch with the lead group. The Honda driver was never able to improve his position, retiring from the race a lap later.

Not wanting to make things easy for himself, Whyte also had a trip to the grass, running wide at Tarzan and falling to third behind Watts and Cleland. The in-form driver in the series then put his head down and was soon back on terms with the leading duo.

Whyte picked the top two off one by one before storming off to take a relatively comfortable victory, winning the in-house championship in the process. Meanwhile, Cleland and Watts battled for second behind. Eventually the double BTCC champion got the better of the Peugeot 406 driver, with Watts rounding out the podium places.

Paul Rivett had a lonely race to finish in fourth in Alex Schooledge’s Honda Accord, while Keith Butcher recovered his Nissan Primera from an incident with Neil Smith’s Alfa Romeo to claim fifth. Butcher and Smith came together at Deene Hairpin, resulting in race-ending damage for Smith and also ending Simon Garrad’s race, damaging his Opel Vectra.

Mark Smith took the top GA class honours in sixth, beating home Harry Whale and Mark Wright who enjoyed a thrilling battle throughout the race. Tony Absolom and Steve Dymoke rounded out the top ten.

Along with James Dodd, Neil Smith and Simon Garrad, Alan Strachan was the only other non-finisher, failing to make the start with mechanical issues for his Ford Mondeo.