Ash Sutton pilots his NAPA Racing Ford Focus Saloon to its very first win in the British Touring Car Championship. The four time champion made a brilliant start, took the lead and never relinquished it to teammate Dan Cammish who finished in second place.
Franetic first lap!
There was drama before the race even started for Tom Ingram. The Team Vertu driver pulled into the pits at the end of the formation lap with alternator issues. The reigning champion will be starting from 21st position if he can make it out for race three.
Fellow Hyundai i30n driver Tom Chilton had a huge moment on the grass down the Craner Curves. Chilton managed to recover safely but was relegated down the order.
Nicholas Hamilton ended up in the gravel trap on the exit of Redgate on lap one which brought the safety car out onto circuit.
Under the safety car, Dan Rowbottom pulled into the pitlane and retired his Mercedes A35 Saloon on lap three. Rowbottom may need a new engine, so lots of work for Plato Racing to do before race three.
Safety Car in on lap 4
Dan Cammish wasted no time in passing race one winner Mikey Doble for third place on lap six. Gordon Shedden was keen to follow Cammish through as he and Aiden Moffat were the highest places soft tyre runners in fourth and fifth. Doble’s day went from brilliant to bad in race two as he plummeted through the field. By lap eight, Doble had already dropped down to tenth position in his Audi.
Cammish pressurising second place Rainford
On lap 15 Cammish had really closed the gap to Charles Rainford’s BMW and launched an attack around the outside of Mcleans. Cammish was patient and used his turbo boost to pass Rainford down the pit straight and defended well through the Craner Curves.
Shedden, Moffat and DeLeon had now caught up to the back of Rainford in a battle for third place. Shedden passed Rainford around the outside of Redgate which left the BMW vulnerable down the Craners. Moffat and DeLeon snuck past Rainford into the old hairpin, shuffling Charles down to sixth place.
Ash Sutton was faultless in race two and took his 48th career BTCC victory. He pulled the number eight ball for the reverse grid draw which promotes Ricky Collard to pole position for race three.
The top 15 in Race Two:
- Ash Sutton
- Dan Cammish
- Gordon Shedden (Winning Independant)
- Aiden Moffat
- Daryl DeLeon
- Charles Rainford
- Dexter Patterson (Jack Sears Tophy Winner)
- Ricky Collard (Reverse Grid Pole)
- Adam Morgan
- Josh Cook
- Aron Taylor-Smith
- Chris Smiley
- Tom Chilton
- Mikey Doble
- Lewis Selby
Image Credit: Jess Coulsell
