Ash Sutton wins second race at Rockingham, extends championship lead

Ash Sutton took a sixth victory of the season and extended his lead in the British Touring Car Championship standings in the middle contest at Rockingham.

The Adrian Flux Subaru Racing driver was gifted the lead in what appeared to be a pre-meditated move by pole-sitter and race one winner James Cole at the Deene hairpin, before extending his advantage as his ballast laden team-mate delayed those behind.

The result ensures he moves 10 points ahead of BMW’s Colin Turkington in the championship standings with seven races left to run.

“I think we just over-worked the tyres at the start and they just fell away from halfway onwards, luckily we had the gap,” admitted Sutton.

He denied the team had planned their switch for the race lead at the start.

“Actually, we were told we could race; I had a very poor start and just did my normal ‘living on the edge’, outside stuff. There were no pre-discussions, it was all done off my own back.”

Mat Jackson finished second after scything his way through – and surviving a near race-ending clash with the MG of Josh Cook – but was ultimately powerless to reduce Sutton’s 3.8 second advantage by the time he had clean air to pursue the Subaru.

The clash with Cook typified the robust nature of the series, with the Motorbase driver attempting to run the MG to the apex on the exit of Deene on lap eight, before Cook attacked the inside at Yentwood and the two cars made contact, sending Jackson wide into the gravel and gifting Honda’s Matt Neal third on the road behind Cook.

The MG drivers’ race then unraveled through no fault of his own, with Neal lunging to the inside at Deene before failing to make the corner, taking both cars straight on. Cook rejoined at the rear of the field, whilst Neal retired on the spot.

That promoted Jackson back into second and allowed Turkington through into third to minimise the points loss to Sutton in the standings.

Jason Plato surged through to fourth for Subaru after starting tenth, making consistent progress throughout the contest.

Jack Goff can count himself unlucky to have fallen foul of the switch for the lead at Deene on the opening lap, having temporarily run second through the first corner, however the Eurotech Racing driver consoled himself with fifth at the chequered flag.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan continued his return to form with sixth in the Mercedes A-Class, whilst consistent drives from Andrew Jordan and Rob Collard saw the BMW pairing finish seventh and eighth respectively.

Tom Ingram put in one of the drives of the season with a meteoric rise from last on the grid to finish ninth, with Chris Smiley a career-best tenth for BTC Norlin Racing.

James Cole ended up 13th several hard-fought duels in a ballast-laden car, whilst disaster struck championship contender Gordon Shedden after contact with Rob Austin’s Toyota at Deene left him with broken front-right suspension.

When Shedden’s car came to a rest on lap three by the side of the circuit, a brief two-lap safety car period was required.

The other Team Dynamics-run Honda of Matt Simpson also endured a torrid race, ending the race in the gravel trap between the Deene hairpin and Yentwood turn after nine laps.

The final race gets underway at 16:40, with Jordan drawn onto reverse grid pole position alongside Morgan, by Series Director, Alan Gow.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M	Ashley SUTTON		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	18	26:57.861	1:24.011	2
2	3		Mat JACKSON		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	18	2.438	1:24.245	7
3	4	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	18	2.730	1:25.173	6
4	99	M	Jason PLATO		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	18	7.110	1:25.157	10
5	31		Jack GOFF		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	18	9.513	1:24.863	3
6	33		Adam MORGAN		Ciceley Motorsport	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	10.101	1:25.476	8
7	77	M	Andrew JORDAN		BMW Pirtek Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	18	10.569	1:25.311	12
8	5	M	Rob COLLARD		Team BMW	BMW 125i M Sport	18	10.756	1:24.991	17
9	80		Tom INGRAM		Speedworks Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	18	14.802	1:24.901	32
10	22		Chris SMILEY		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	18	15.349	1:25.449	20
11	18	M	Senna PROCTOR		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	15.913	1:25.565	21
12	48		Ollie JACKSON		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	18	18.138	1:25.266	14
13	20	M	James COLE		Adrian Flux Subaru Racing	Subaru Levorg GT	18	18.466	1:25.460	1
14	16		Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	19.262	1:25.504	19
15	40	M	Árón TAYLOR-SMITH		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	18	20.029	1:25.383	16
16	2	M	Tom CHILTON		Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	20.261	1:25.541	11
17	24		Jake HILL		TAG Racing	Volkswagen CC	18	21.624	1:25.737	24
18	10		Ant WHORTON-EALES		AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts	Audi S3	18	22.278	1:24.508	18
19	6		Rory BUTCHER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	18	23.389	1:26.026	25
20	30		Martin DEPPER		Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo	Ford Focus	18	24.479	1:26.083	22
21	61		Will BURNS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	18	29.679	1:26.085	23
22	7		Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	18	30.884	1:26.300	26
23	17		Dave NEWSHAM		BTC Norlin Racing	Chevrolet Cruze	18	31.330	1:25.537	13
24	39		Brett SMITH		Eurotech Racing	Honda Civic Type R	18	35.011	1:26.097	27
25	95		Stewart LINES		Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport	Ford Focus	18	43.605	1:26.864	29
26	11		Rob AUSTIN		Handy Motorsport	Toyota Avensis	17	1 Lap	1:24.946	31
27	12		Mike EPPS		Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing	Volkswagen CC	15	3 Laps	1:26.166	15
R	66		Josh COOK		MG Racing RCIB Insurance	MG6GT	13	DNF	1:24.601	4
R	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	11	DNF	1:24.552	5
R	303	M	Matt SIMPSON		Simpson Racing	Honda Civic Type R	9	DNF	1:25.817	28
R	52	M	Gordon SHEDDEN		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type R	2	DNF	1:26.346	30
R	28	M	Josh PRICE		A-Plan Academy	Subaru Levorg GT	1	DNF	1:44.360	9