Mark Sumpter scored a brace of fifth places in the ninth round of the Michelin Porsche Cup at Knockhill last weekend.

In different conditions, the Paragon Porsche/Ultrafilter International-backed car ran in the lead pack all weekend but was unable to move forward at a circuit where overtaking is notoriously hard.

Sumpter, from Five Ashes in East Sussex, was a bit frustrated to qualify fifth on Saturday morning, lapping half a second away from the pole position time.

Pushing hard in the later stages of the qualifying session, he had a spin at the tricky Clark Corner where Andrew Shelley had crashed a few laps earlier. However, after a quick trip across the gravel, Sumpter was able to rejoin without picking up any damage.

The sprint race proved to be a frustrating affair for Sumpter, with overtaking at Knockhill being incredibly difficult. The order was pretty much settled at the first corner as the Sussex driver slotted into fifth place behind Phil Hindley and ahead of Nigel Rice.

With the cars lapping at much the same pace, there was little change and Sumpter was stuck in fifth place all the way to the flag.

He said: "That was a bit boring. Phil and I were doing the same lap times and that made it virtually impossible to make up places. It was a quick race pace."

The conditions were terrible for the feature race on Sunday as 11,500 hardy fans braved persistent rain.

At the first attempt for a rolling start, there was confusion over the lights and the pack was re-gridded for another try. This time they got away cleanly with Hindley and Adrian Slater making contact at the first corner. While Hindley spun out, Slater was delayed and in the chaos Rice nipped through to third with Slater and Sumpter on his tail.

Although Sumpter edged ahead of Rice into the hairpin to chase after Slater, that was the result settled and they reeled off the remaining laps just trying to stay on the track as standing water made life even more difficult.

Mark Cole has extended his lead and Sumpter knows that he has to win at Brands Hatch next weekend if he is to retain a chance of winning the title.

Provisional points after nine rounds: 1 Mark Cole 233; 2 Mark Sumpter 207; 3 Nigel Rice 190; 4 Adrian Slater 189; 5 Phil Hindley 188; 6 Andrew Shelley 123.5.