A stunning drive from Sophia Floersch under immense pressure gave her a second Ginetta Junior Championship race win of the weekend at Thruxton.
Her race one win earnt Floersch her first pole position in the category and the German converted it into an early lead, with Stuart Middleton briefly slipping into second before Dan Zelos got back ahead around the outside into the complex.
There was carnage behind though, with the fast-starting Will Tregurtha seeing his progress from sixth to fourth halted when a spin at Cobb ended with the unfortunate Jonathan Hadfield collecting his car.
While Tregurtha somehow managed to continue, Hadfield was out of the race, a fate Patrik Matthiesen also suffered after contact whilst trying to gain a place into Campbell led to terminal left rear damage to his HHC Motorsport G40.
After a short safety car period the action resumed with Floersch leading Zelos, Middleton, Billy Monger and championship leader Senna Proctor, who had expertly avoided the first lap incidents to pick his way through from eleventh to fifth.
There was an early change in the chasing pack as Monger slipped down the inside of Middleton for third, while a sideways moment for Proctor through Cobb dropped him back to eighth place behind Jamie Caroline, Kyle Hornby and Dave Wooder, who had rose from sixteenth on the grid to seventh.
The safety car was back on track at the end of that racing lap though after a high-speed off for Esmee Hawkey at Goodwood, the JHR Developments racer being joined on the retirements list by Lewis Brown who had earlier pulled off circuit with a mechanical problem.
Floersch once again produced a great restart as the action resumed on lap five, with the front three breaking an early gap ahead of the pack as Caroline got ahead of Middleton through the complex for fourth.
With no more safety car interruptions to come, a thrilling battle for the race win was able to play out from there, with Floersch having to pull out some sensational defensive driving to keep the gaggle of cars behind at bay.
Zelos was leading the charge for a couple of laps, until a slow run out of the complex on the penultimate lap led to him being passed by Monger into Noble, Caroline into Goodwood and Middleton into Church – the latter a role reversal of an overtake from race one.
Monger therefore was on Floersch’s bootlid for the final lap, but he wasn’t alone as an incredibly close five car train ran nose-to-tail into the final chicane for the last time. Floersch kept them at bay though to pick up a hard-fought second victory of the weekend.
Monger just took second despite a last gasp move from Caroline, who himself secured third place for his second top three finish of the campaign. Middleton capped off a great weekend in fourth, with Zelos adding fifth to his race one podium.
Hornby completed the top six ahead of Total Control Racing duo Cameron Roberts and Matt Chapman, their team-mate Wooder having had to retire late on with front splitter damage. Proctor was left to settle for ninth, while Ben Green finally took a first top ten finish after being denied by a post-race penalty in race one.
Tregurtha nursed his RCE car home in thirteenth, two places behind Seb Perez who produced a great drive from 22nd to eleventh, while William Stacey fell back to sixteenth after a high-speed moment through Church.
Full race results can be found here.
