Matias Zagazeta converted a rapid pole position into a second victory of 2021 for Phinsys by Argenti at a red-flagged opening race at Knockhill, making a lightning start ahead of Joel Granfors and Matthew Rees to move within 50 points of championship leader James Hedley.
The Peruvian had to manage a mid-race restart following his team mate Marcos Flack’s car becoming stranded at Clarks corner, but showed composure and experience in taking a stronghold on the race lead which he never surrendered.
Granfors held on to second ahead of Matthew Rees, who reduced his deficit to Hedley in the championship fight to just ten points, with the Fortec title leader only managing to move up as far as tenth in a frenetic race.
Eduardo Coseteng equalled his best race result of the season so far with an assured drive to fourth place, with JHR Developments’ Joseph Loake finishing just over a second behind in fifth. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak brought home his Carlin machine in sixth, with his race being marred by a tangle with Aiden Neate at MacIntyre, which would leave the Argenti rookie out of the race.
Kai Askey finished behind his Thai team mate in seventh, with Mckenzy Cresswell fighting back to eighth but ultimately losing ground to team mate Matthew Rees in the rookie cup championship battle, now trailing behind by 33 points.
Oliver Gray was able to ward off team mate James Hedley with both Fortec drivers rounding out the top ten. Dougie Bolger was unlucky to come home in eleventh after being muscled out at MacIntyre on the opening lap in what has otherwise been a very impressive showing from the Japanese rookie so far this weekend.
David Morales posted a career best twelfth place finish after taking to the gravel in avoidance of the Zak Taylor and Abbi Pulling incident at the apex of the hairpin, with the former returning from the race. Pulling would later finish thirteenth after pitting and rejoining the back of the safety car, but was unable to move further up.
The weekend continues with the reverse grid contest at 10:10am on Sunday (15 August).
Race 1 Classification
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matias Zagazeta | Phinsys by Argenti | 15 Laps |
| 2 | Joel Granfors | Fortec Motorsport | + 0.925 |
| 3 | Matthew Rees (R) | JHR Developments | + 1.329 |
| 4 | Eduardo Coseteng (R) | Phinsys by Argenti | + 2.342 |
| 5 | Joseph Loake | JHR Developments | + 3.643 |
| 6 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Carlin | + 5.147 |
| 7 | Kai Askey (R) | Carlin | + 5.983 |
| 8 | Mckenzy Cresswell (R) | JHR Developments | + 6.525 |
| 9 | Oliver Gray (R) | Fortec Motorsport | + 7.126 |
| 10 | James Hedley | Fortec Motorsport | + 7.381 |
| 11 | Dougie Bolger (R) | Carlin | + 7.563 |
| 12 | David Morales | Arden Motorsport | + 8.165 |
| 13 | Abbi Pulling | JHR Developments | + 10.266 |
| 14 | Zak Taylor | Arden Motorsport | DNF |
| 15 | Aiden Neate (R) | Phinsys by Argenti | DNF |
| 16 | Marcos Flack (R) | Phinsys by Argenti | DNF |