Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat claimed victory in Round 19 of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship as the pole-sitter fended off Jake Hill’s Ford Focus for the full duration at Croft.

Moffat controlled the pace from the outset, often cleverly bulking up the bunch behind as his rear-wheel drive Infiniti Q50 exited the final Hairpin, and the Scotsman also expertly dealt with an early safety car period.

MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square’s Hill kept the leader honest for the entire 18-laps, but Moffat would not be denied his first victory of the season and his first P1 success since Silverstone in 2018.

BTC Racing’s Senna Proctor finished third after he got the better of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington around the outside of Tower Bend on the opening lap, whilst BTC Racing’s Josh Cook completed the top five positions after an early skirmish with the BMW 330i M Sport of Tom Oliphant.

Championship leader Ash Sutton was sixth after his own impressive early pass on Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan through the Complex and exiting the Hairpin, with the latter also dropping another place to the EXCELR8-run Hyundai of Chris Smiley.

Dan Lloyd (Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing) and Gordon Shedden (Halfords Racing with Cataclean) rounded out the top ten after the duo went side-by-side on a number of occasions.

Tom Chilton was 11th in the second Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport BMW, whilst title challenger Tom Ingram made up ten placed to claim 12th in the Ginsters-backed Hyundai.

Halfords Racing with Cataclean’s Daniel Rowbottom endured a bruising encounter with three separate incidents involving the likes of Oliphant, Ollie Jackson’s Ford and Aron Taylor-Smith’s CUPRA, contact with the latter eventually ending his challenge.

Aiden Moffat said: “It’s a first win in rear-wheel drive! I can’t really use the excuses and say that it was anything to do with the car after watching Ash do it week in, week out, but it was nice to get our first win in rear-wheel drive and to reward the team for putting up with me!

“Jake [Hill] and the Focus have been so fast all year, so I knew my life was going to be very difficult. Through Sunny In to Sunny Out I was really struggling. The car was quick there yesterday, but I was slow on the edge, which was easy to create understeer or oversteer, and being in the lead I thought I’d just try to dial it back and try and use the traction. We had to think about that race a lot and he made it difficult but that just makes it more rewarding to get that first win in rear-wheel drive for Laser Tools Racing.”

Jake Hill said: “We had a go at Aiden [Moffat], it was good! I think we both drove really well there. It was a good, hard touring car race at the end of the day. I’m thrilled to be coming away with second place. Lots of points again and it’s nice to bump up in the championship and edge closer to Ash [Sutton]. It’s good.

“To be honest I was fairly surprised at how long the car stayed with me [with 48kg of success ballast]. I knew the pace was there for the first five to ten laps but then it was interesting to see just how long it stayed with me. Great job by the team. MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square did a great job and have done all weekend so far, so bring on race two!”

Senna Proctor said: “I’m really happy. I was egging Jake on to have a go at Aiden so that I could capitalise on anything that happened. We had the soft tyre on and by the time that the safety car came out I lost the advantage that I would have had with the tyre earlier on, so it was an up and down race. I’m just happy to have a podium and my home meeting! Everyone at BTC Racing has done a great job so a big thanks to them.

“After the bad start at Oulton Park from pole position, I’ve vowed to never make a bad start again. I got in front of Adam [Morgan] and then Colin [Turkington] going on the run to Tower as they’re a little bit weak on the front tyres due to tyre temps on the first couple of laps. So I capitalised there and it was just a case of follow the leader. Not able to make much impression from there but we’ll put the weight in and go again at race two.”

2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Croft

1             Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 18 laps
2             Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +0.520s
3             Senna PROCTOR(GBR) BTC Racing +1.888s
4             Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +2.269s
5             Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +2.877s
6             Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +4.502s
7             Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +5.447s
8             Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +6.728s
9             Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +7.337s
10           Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +8.043s
11           Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +8.808s
12           Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +9.776s
13           Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +10.064s
14           Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +11.970s
15           Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +12.649s
16           Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +13.576s
17           Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +14.276s
18           Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +14.941s
19           Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +15.167s
20           Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +15.167s
21           Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +16.101s
22           Jack MITCHELL (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +17.614s
23           Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +23.884s
24           Andy NEATE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +29.719s
25           Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +30.118s
26           Nick HALSTEAD (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +34.270s
27           Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +1:32.556s
28           Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +15 laps
29           Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +15 laps