Tim Harvey shook off the gremlins that have been dogging him recently to claim a second place victory in the Independents Cup for Team Halfords at the Knockhill race circuit in Scotland.

He picked up 12 points and finished 9th overall in the feature race after battling through torrential rain which deluged the Fife circuit all day. The valuable points mean that Tim is back in contention for the Independent Championship, lying fourth in the table behind Atomic Kitten’s Gareth Howell. The team's youngest driver Carl Breeze crossed the finish line safely to claim a fourth in the Feature race for the Independents Cup.

Harvey commented: "It was actually quite scary out there. The sheer amount of water on the track made it almost impossible to see through the spray. I like driving in the wet but that was taking things a bit too far! I was really pleased with my result and the car felt good so I will be looking for even better results in the remaining two rounds of the season."

There was no such luck for Dan Eaves, who after qualifying in 7th place for the Feature race had high hopes for regaining the Independent title from Barwell’s Aaron Slight. But his aspirations were wrecked when he was exiting the pit lane after his obligatory pit stop. Atomic Kitten driver Colin Turkington, ploughed into the number 5 Peugeot, sending Eaves smashing into the pit wall and ending his race with the car suffering substantial damage.

It was a controversy filled weekend for Team Halfords. During the sprint race Carl Breeze was knocked off the circuit by the Barwell Vauxhall of Tom Chilton leaving him with no hope of completing the race. Harvey and Eaves, who had qualified in 12th and 9th, battled with the Atomic Kitten Independents Cup contenders throughout the race but the agile kittens squeezed past the Peugeot lions who came home 11th and 14th.

Team Halfords principal Vic Lee said: "This round was fiercely competitive on a notoriously difficult circuit. The top 14 cars, including ourselves, completed times within one second of each other, which shows how close the teams are. This certainly adds more excitement to the Championship for the spectators and TV viewers but also means that we have to work even harder to win every point. I was particularly disappointed with the incident involving Dan Eaves in the pit lane, which was certainly not his error. But it's important to recover from these knocks and look forward to the next round at Brands Hatch on the 26th August.”

After the Knockhill round, Team Halfords drivers Eaves, Harvey and Breeze lie 2nd, 4th and 7th respectively in the Independents Cup. A victory in the feature race for Honda's Andy Priaulx puts them fourth above Halfords in the overall championship.