Will Goff had a mixed start to his Porsche Carrera Cup campaign, but left the opening event with a victory in the second race at Brands Hatch, after throwing away the lead in the first event, and a narrow championship lead.

The Dereham racer set the pace in qualifying in the Pro-Am2 class on the Kent circuit, the venue for the opening round, but knows he needs to be on his toes as the competition is fierce.

'It is close this year, which is really good,' he said. 'It takes a while for the tyres to come in and I was pleased to stay on the back of Paul Rees during the session.'

In the opening race Goff got past early category leader Steven Liquorish, but a pair of spins at Graham Hill Bend dropped him to the tail of the field to leave him to trail in last.

Goff started race two from ninth on the grid and led his class all the way to the chequered flag.

It looks like double Renault Clio champion Josh Files will spend most of this season on the sidelines as he has been unable to raise a budget to progress this year.

'Unfortunately I will not be racing in the UK at all due to budget constraints,' tweeted the Poringland racer.

'Can I take this opportunity however to thank you all for supporting me to my double championship winning year,' he continued.

Wisbech's Joe McMillan is joining the Volkswagen Racing Cup this season with a new Scirocco, built by his family Cobra Engineering team, having raced a Seat Leon Cupra in the VAG Trophy for the last two seasons.