After 30 laps of competition spread across two races, less than three hundredths of a second determined the destiny of the Tom Pryce Trophy at Pembrey yesterday.

The first race for the classic Formula 3 competitors was won by Benn Simms in the March 803B originally driven by ex-F1 boss Eddie Jordan. Second place went to Bill Coombs in his Argo JM6.

Coombs, the chief driving instructor at Thruxton Motor Sports Centre, repeated his opening race feat in race two while Simms could manage no better than third place.

Victory in the second race went to Dursley driver Matthew Watts despite his 1969 built Brabham BT29 lacking the wings and other aerodynamic aids of his newer rivals.

With Watts having finished third in the opening race only aggregate times could separate the three drivers with Benn Simms just edging out Bill Coombs by the narrowest of margins, the Melton Mowbray driver declaring himself delighted to have won a trophy bearing the name of Wales’s greatest racing driver.