Mark Sumpter finished a fighting second in the sixth round of the Michelin Porsche Cup at a packed Castle Combe last Sunday.

In front of a weekend crowd of more than 22,000 fans, the Paragon Porsche/Ultrafilter International backed car led the opening stages of the race before being forced wide.

Sumpter had to fight back up the order in the re-started race to finish second, less than a second behind race winner Nigel Rice.

The result takes the East Sussex driver to within six points of the championship lead.

Qualifying had gone well as Sumpter, from Five Ashes, took pole position, heading a six-car pack that was split by less than four tenths of a second.

"I guess it doesn't really matter how much it is by, it's still pole position," said Sumpter after earning the first championship point of the weekend.

Sumpter led the first five laps and was looking good for his third win of the season until Danny Watts attacked at Quarry. That forced Sumpter wide and allowed Nigel Rice and Phil Hindley through.

When Paul Barrett's car spun off at Quarry, the race was halted and re-started for a new one over nine laps, using the finishing order from the first part as the new grid.

Sumpter started from fourth slot and knew he had a big task ahead of him in the remaining laps.

After the re-start, Rice battled ahead of Watts at the first corner and took a lead he would never lose. Sumpter was soon in the thick of the action, racing neck and neck with Watts, Phil Hindley and Adrian Slater.

Watts was chasing Rice when he half-spun at Bobbies and the closely following Hindley could not avoid hitting his car. Both retired as a result, leaving Sumpter to take second place by less than three tenths of a second.

Sumpter said: "The first part of the race was really good. I was watching Watts and it was just a case of when it (his crash) was going to happen."

Sumpter now has a three-week gap before the championship resumes at Croft in North Yorkshire on July 13/14.