Sean Walkinshaw Racings Matty Graham claimed his second win of the season at Silverstone Saturday (17 August) while second place for Lanan Racings Jake Hughes saw him stretch his championship advantage to 23 points.
Graham had claimed pole position in the days earlier qualifying session, and made an excellent start to lead the field down to Copse Corner on the opening lap. HHC Motorsports Charlie Robertson moved into second place at the expense of second placed starter Hughes while Jack Barlow in fourth also threatened.
Graham initially held an advantage of 1.7 seconds before Robertson began to draw closer, closing the lead to 1.2 seconds. But as Robertsons tyres faded, Graham pulled away and Hughes closed rapidly, and passed Robertson for second place around the outside of Brooklands on lap eight.
Seb Morris took fourth for Hillspeed, with Barlow fifth for Sean Walkinshaw Racing. James Greenway took a season best sixth place in his privately entered car with HHCs Raoul Hyman seventh. Ross Gunn took eighth for Motionsport, with Matt Bell ninth for Douglas Team E-Lites. Brands Hatch race winner Pietro Fittipaldi took 10th for Mark Godwin Racing.
The result means Hughes now leads the championship by 23 points from Morris, with Barlow rising to third. Jake Dalton was spun out of the race on the opening lap and has dropped to fourth in the standings ahead of Graham and Robertson who are equal on points.
Speaking after the race, Graham enthused: Im really happy. I got a good start and from there it was a case of not making any mistakes. It wasnt as comfortable as it seemed as I was under quite a bit of pressure and kept looking back and seeing Robertson in my mirrors for the most part, but I managed to stay calm and it ended well.
Championship leader Hughes commented: Charlie [Robertson] put a brilliant move on me around the outside going into Vale and the front two seemed to pull away a bit, and I was coming under pressure from Jack Barlow. I got back past him but it seemed there was no catching Matty or Charlie up front. Charlie seemed to go off a little bit towards the end and I managed to get back him and claim second, which is a good result for the championship.
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