Ash Sutton claims race two win as rear-wheel drive cars dominate

Ash Sutton led home team-mate Jason Plato in the second British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Knockhill, as Subaru secured another 1-2 finish whilst BMW drivers Colin Turkington and Rob Collard had to again settle for third and fourth.

The first start saw the lead four scamper away, whilst Tom Ingram got off to a poor start and was tagged by Senna Proctor before even the first corner.

That bunched the field up heading into Duffus Dip for the first time, and Andrew Jordan then tagged the rear of Matt Neal’s Honda, who in turn knocked into and spun Proctor in front of the field. Unsighted, Stephen Jelley bit the front of the stricken Vauxhall hard, whilst the rest of the field desperately tried to avoid the ensuing carnage.

In the dramas, Jordan also collected Dave Newsham’s Chevrolet, whilst all three Motorbase cars, both MGs and Mike Epps also went off the track, with the MG of Josh Cook picking up front-left damage after colliding with Newsham.

The number of stricken cars, with big damage to both Proctor and Jelley’s cars, caused the red flags to come out and force a restart of the race.

When the race restarted, Plato led the field away for the first ten laps, before Sutton drew alongside his team-mate along the start straight and took the lead heading onto lap 11.

Whilst Plato remained glued to the back of Sutton for much of the rest of the race, claiming that the team have “found” the issue afflicting his car earlier in the year, he could not re-pass and settled for second.

“I’m pleased that we can now work together as a team as it should be, with team orders coming into it,” said Sutton to TouringCars.Net. “It’s working well and we’re both getting on, so it’s quite nice to have him up there.

“I just need to finish [race three] because at Snetterton we had a cracking race one and two. I just need to get in the top five and sit there and be happy.”

The two Team BMW drivers were once again left to settle for third and fourth, with Turkington’s championship lead now reduced to two points as a result of Sutton’s win.

James Cole once again took fifth, ahead of Honda’s Gordon Shedden in sixth, who got past Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram for the position on lap three.

By finishing in seventh, Josh Price made it four Subarus inside the top seven, although the rookie’s race was not without controversy. Price had on lap 15 made contact with Honda’s Matt Neal heading into Turn 1, with the result leaving Neal in the gravel trap and out of the race.

Price was later excluded from the results for having been adjudged to have passed under yellow flags.

BTC’s Newsham took eighth, ahead of Ingram in ninth and Motorbase’s Rory Butcher in tenth. The reverse grid draw for race three will see Butcher start on pole position at his home circuit.

Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff retired from the race after six laps whilst running in tenth when the MG of Árón Taylor-Smith made contact exiting the hairpin, breaking the right-rear suspension on the Honda and eliminating both drivers from the race.

There were also more woes for Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan, who crawled around with a mechanical issue after four laps.

Race three takes place at 17:12 BST (18:12 CEST).

Original race result (subsequently amended)

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	22	19:25.761	52.500	2
2	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	22	0.238	52.457	1
3	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	22	3.198	52.601	3
4	5	M	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	22	5.063	52.587	4
5	20	M	James COLE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	22	6.831	52.687	5
6	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	22	9.401	52.494	11
7	28	M	Josh PRICE		A-Plan Academy	Subaru Levorg GT	22	24.099	52.714	18
8	17		Dave NEWSHAM		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	22	25.803	53.608	10
9	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	22	25.954	53.287	6
10	6		Rory BUTCHER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	22	26.361	52.957	25
11	10		Ant WHORTON-EALES		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	22	28.889	53.406	17
12	30		Martin DEPPER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	22	30.959	53.346	27
13	2	M	Tom CHILTON		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	22	31.841	53.392	16
14	303	M	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	22	36.074	53.074	22
15	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	22	39.823	53.737	19
16	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	22	44.428	53.521	26
17	3		Mat JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	22	44.685	53.512	31
18	12		Mike EPPS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	22	45.215	53.616	24
19	39		Brett SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	22	47.572	53.749	30
20	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	22	49.314	53.289	28
21	61		Will BURNS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	22	51.406	53.941	29
22	95		Stewart LINES		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	22	51.944	54.219	32
R	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	14	DNF	53.120	9
R	40	M	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	9	DNF	53.709	15
R	31		Jack GOFF		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	6	DNF	53.488	14
R	24		Jake HILL		TAG Racing	Volkswagen CC	4	DNF	53.786	21
R	33		Adam MORGAN		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	4	DNF	54.250	8
R	7		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	0	DNF	N/A	20
R	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	0	DNF	N/A	23
R	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	0	DNF	N/A	7
R	66		Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	0	DNF	N/A	12
R	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	0	DNF	N/A	13