Race report: 77MM – Derek Bell Cup

Hibbert blasted into an early lead from pole aboard his ex-Chequered Flag car, with Mitchell rarely more than 0.1 seconds behind him. Mitchell nabbed the lead into Woodcote five minutes into the 20-minute encounter for 1.0-litre F3 cars, but Hibbert retook the position in the middle of Fordwater next time around.

By half-distance, the lead duo were 19 seconds clear of Enrico Spagiarri’s ex-John Miles Lotus 41X in third place. With eight minutes left to run, the gap had widened to an incredible 31 seconds. A late safety car period saw the order bunch up again, but Mitchell and Hibbert reasserted their dominance once racing resumed with two laps left to run. Michell edged past on the Lavant straight with only seconds to spare and just held on to win. His margin of victory was barely a tenth of a second.