Harry King has taken his first victory in the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship during a frenetic second race of the weekend at Snetterton, in which Daniel Harper took the chequered flag first but was hit with a time penalty post-race.
Harper had seemed to have completed a perfect double victory for the Snetterton weekend from pole position, however he was demoted to third position by the stewards for his part in some action-packed battling for the win with Will Tregurtha, Dave Wooder and King.
It was reigning Scholarship winner Harper who started the race from pole position following his race one win, and the Douglas Motorsport ace led the field through Riches for the first time, whilst behind Tregurtha quickly grabbed second from Wooder.
It would all change at the Wilson hairpin however as both Harper and Wooder outbraked themselves, allowing Tregurtha and King to slide up the inside of both to assume the top two positions, with Harper and Wooder sandwiching Kyle Hornby behind.
The fast-starting Hornby had a moment of his own at Brundle, though would emerge from his trip across the grass up in second position, with Wooder working his way back into third position ahead of Harper and King.
It was short-lived for Wooder however as a slide at Riches on lap two dropped him to fifth, with Harper benefitting from that and a slick move on Hornby at Wilson to move into second, whilst King dispatched Hornby at Palmer to take third.
One lap later and Harper had returned to the front of the field through Wilson, with Tregurtha just holding onto second position as Wooder moved back into third behind – Hornby soon falling away from the lead battle into a separate four-car duel over fifth position.
With the huge tow down the long straights meaning Harper was unable to break away at the front, any one of the top four drivers headed into the final few lap with a chance of victory – though an attempted move from Tregurtha at Riches on lap five led to him running wide after slight contact.
Heading onto the final lap and it was Wooder who was eyeing up a move for the lead, however a late lunge into Agostini also saw him make contact with Harper, though the Northern Irishman was able to emerge with his lead intact.
That would be the last challenge of the race, with Harper maintaining the lead until the flag to take what he thought was a third overall win of the season – until the stewards penalised him post-race for the lap five contact into Riches with Tregurtha.
Dropping him below his adversary in the final results, it was King who emerged as the race winner for his and the Elite Motorsport team’s first victory in the championship, while second place for Tregurtha helps ensure he leaves Snetterton with the championship lead.
Lewis Brown eventually held Hornby at bay to take fourth, with Wooder left to settle for sixth after throwing away his podium finish on the final lap. Erstwhile points leader Stuart Middleton was only seventh ahead of Geri Nicosia, Connor Grady and Tom Gamble.
Seb Priaulx capped off a subdued weekend in eleventh ahead of Seb Perez, Max Bird and Jordan Collard, the last of whom had been involved in contact with Olli Caldwell that eventually led to the latter’s retirement.
Full race results can be found here.
