Ash Sutton conquers a rain soaked Brands Hatch Indy circuit to claim victory in the first race of the day. A shower hit the circuit about half an hour before Race one was due to get underway, leaving us a very exciting opening touring car race in prospect.
Sutton keeps his lead off the start
A treacherous start for plenty of the drivers, but Sutton nailed his start and scampered away from the rest of the field. It was Ricky Collard who got off the line best of the rest, storming from fourth up to second place instantly. The regular fast starter of Daryl DeLeon had his fortunes reversed this time around. His rear wheel drive BMW struggling off the line as he dropped down to seventh on the opening lap.
Adam Morgan fell foul to the challenging conditions, as he hit the wall on the entrance to Paddock Hill. The safety car was called out on lap two.
Safety car in and battle for the lead on
As the safety car returned to the pits, Sutton and Collard resumed their battle for the lead. Collard’s first attempt to pass Sutton came at Clearways, sneaking the nose of his Hyundai up the inside but not quite getting the move done. Collard then switched from attack to defence as the medium tyre shod Ingram tried to pass Collard into Paddock Hill. Ingram’s pass didn’t pay off as he was overtaken by Dan Cammish.
In between all of this, Dexter Patterson found the gravel trap on the outside of Clearways. The tricky conditions catching the Scottish driver out. He heroicly managed to keep his Power Maxed Racing Audi from getting beached in the gravel. However, that would be his last act of the race as he pulled into the pits straight away.
Collard comes back at Sutton
On lap 11, Collard finally managed to get past Sutton. He made the most of his extra turbo boost and blasted past Sutton down the pit straight. But just a few laps later, Collard made an error running deep into Graham Hill Bend which gave the lead back to the four time champion. With the track continuing to dry, Sutton began to stretch his legs at the front of the field with Collard having no answer for his pace. By the end of the race, Sutton was over two seconds clear of Collard. Ingram managed to pass Cammish in the closing laps to reclaim third position. A great start to the weekend as he has got his race on the medium tyres out of the way early.
There was late drama between Aiden Moffat and Lewis Selby. The pair came to blows at Druids with Moffat making contact with Selby. Selby then returned the favour to Moffat on the exit of Druids which sent the Power Maxed Audi off into the barriers. Moffat managed to keep his car moving and completed the race.
It was a dream start to the day for Sutton as he claims his third win of the season. He and his all new Ford Focus Saloon look like a formidable combination in 2026.
Hear from the podium finishers
Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing Ford driver: “I played it cautious early on because I didn’t want to go off. The track was changing lap by lap but eventually the rain stopped and you just test the boundaries every lap”
Ricky Collard, Team Vertu driver: “The package that NAPA have is so strong and Ash is just so hard to beat! I tried my best but the conditions were very tricky.”
Tom Ingram, Team Vertu driver: “We decided to try to offset the tyres because we had plenty of boost to use. It seemed to work well and we now get rid of the medium tyre which sets us up well for the rest of the weekend.”
The top 15 finishers
*Results subject to change*
1. Ash Sutton 2. Ricky Collard 3. Tom Ingram 4. Dan Cammish 5. Tom Chilton 6. Sam Osbourne (Jack Sears Trophy Winner) 7. Mikey Doble (Independant Drivers Winner) 8. Chris Smiley 9. Charles Rainford 10. Daryl DeLeon 11. Josh Cook 12. Lewis Selby 13. Gordon Shedden 14. Aron Taylor-Smith 15. James Dorlin
