• Rob storms to fourth and a win

Rob Huff survived a 120mph crash and battled back from 15th on the 17 car grid to lead the £600,000 SEAT Cupra Championship after a thrilling opening round.

The Cambridge racer somehow won the second of the races in a patched up car at the Croft circuit in Yorkshire, but he feared the biggest prize in British motor sport had been snatched away from him before the series had begun when his car was almost wrecked in qualifying.

"It was unbelievable," he said. "Karl Goshawk braked in front of me when I was slip-streaming and I couldn't have been more than a couple of feet off his bumper.

"I've not idea what he was up to, testing his brakes probably without realising I was there. We were up to about 120mph at the time, there wasn't a lot I could do, and it felt like hitting a brick wall at about 50mph.

"His car took off, although he wasn't injured, and the front of mine was in a right state. Nothing that I thought at the time would be printable.

"That meant I was at the back of the field in the first race, but the lads did a great job and in spite of some trouble with the suspension I managed to put the car on the grid in third place for the second race.

"I knew I had to do something special from that far back in the first and fortunately I got one of my famous starts, ripped past five cars before the first bend and had reeled nine in by the end of the first lap."

But there was more trouble to come when after getting through to third a tyre barrier was knocked into his path by another car, and he had to settle for fourth.

In race two he piled the pressure on the front two, both Steve Colbert and Gordon Shedden spun off and he took the chequered flag by two and a half seconds.

"Gavin Smith had a bit of a go at me at about the half way mark," he said, "but I was able to keep it steady. In the end it was just an amazing meeting in more ways than one."

After his dramatic day the 23-year-old championship favourite will take a four points lead into round two on the Silverstone grand prix circuit at the end of the month.

And he will maintain his race sharpness by defending his Peter Best MGB "B" Class title in rounds at Donington Park this weekend then Brands Hatch the following Sunday.