After an intense four car battle for the win, it was Phil House who held on to the advantage as he inherited the lead on the opening lap, going on to win the opening VW Racing Cup round of 2016.
From the third row, Darelle Wilson made an outstanding start, keeping to the inside and moving into the lead before the first corner. The incredible getaway didn’t last long though as he outbraked himself into Deene half spinning the car before rejoining in the midfield.
Further incidents behind saw a number of other front runners drop back with Simon Rudd reinheriting the lead after starting on pole. It didn’t last long though as he made a mistake coming out of Pif Paf, allowing House to dive up the inside at Gracelands.
With Kenan Dole also sneaking his way into third, the top trio broke away from the pack, quickly establishing an advantage over the pack.
One of the major losers from the first lap carnage was Jack Walker-Tully. He’d run wide at the first corner but after a mistake by Jamie Bond, he attacked Toby Davis taking fourth with still 14 minutes to go. Walker Tully went on to immediately set fastest laps but was still 3.6 seconds down on the leader.
House was now holding Rudd and Dole who are within a second of each other as the top three bunched up. Unsurprisingly Rudd was getting impatient and started pressuring House into a mistake but he remained solid as the pressure grew from behind.
With still half the Rockingham race to go, Walker-Tully dove up the inside of Dole into turn two taking the final podium place. Dole remained competitive throughout, keeping him honest as he eventually settled for fourth.
After a number of laps attacking, Rudd was forced to defend, losing time to House as the group bunched up behind. After a few more laps of jostling, Walker-Tully made one final move briefly taking second around the outside of Deene before running wide and settling for third with Dole pushing him to the line.
The win gives House the championship lead and the advantage going into Sunday as Davis and Bond rounded out the top six, ensuring that it’s still anyones game with the final round 10:50 UK Time Sunday
