Ash Sutton claimed victory in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton after fending off late pressure from Josh Cook.
Disappointment for Eurotech Racing’s Jack Goff – victor of Race 1 – who failed to exit the pit lane in sufficient time to line up on pole position made Sutton’s life easier, with the Subaru Levorg GT given a clear run to Riches.
He duly held the resulting lead from Dan Cammish’s Honda Civic Type R and stretched out a comfortable advantage until a late safety car on circuit for Rob Collard’s badly-damaged BMW 125i M Sport allowed Cook – then sat in third behind Dan Cammish’s Honda Civic Type R – to pass and pile the pressure on reigning Champion Sutton.
Though Cook chased Sutton’s shadow over the line by a mere two tenths of a second, an opportunity to seize the lead from the 24-year old failed to materialise.
Tom Ingram put in arguably the drive of the season thus far in surging forward from 27th on the grid after an earlier retirement to take the final spot on the podium from Cammish on the line.
Unsurprisingly, that also hands him the honours in Dunlop’s ‘Forever Forward’ stakes for Round 17 with a total of 24 overtakes.
It also means the Speedworks Motorsport racer moves to within four points of championship leader Colin Turkington (Team BMW) after another torrid race for the Northern Irishman.
His race came undone at the very first corner, with Brett Smith’s Eurotech Honda sliding into the BTC Norlin machine of Dan Lloyd, who in turn then damaged the right-rear of Turkington’s BMW 1-series.
He pitted for repairs and duly rejoined the race for a period, suggesting WSR have fixed the damage ahead of the championship’s 60th Anniversary ‘Diamond Double’ contest later this afternoon.
Chris Smiley continued BTC Norlin’s strong day thus far with fifth after fending off Sam Tordoff’s Motorbase Ford, with a race-long scrap between the resurgent Senna Proctor, Tom Oliphant and Andrew Jordan for company.
Ant Whorton-Eales made a statement of intent on his return to the category with tenth in the AmD-run MG6 GT, the highlight a three-in-one move at Riches at half distance.
Tom Chilton took 11th ahead of Smith and Aiden Moffat, Bobby Thompson and Lloyd completed the points finishers.
Jason Plato endured a difficult race, sliding wide at Riches across the wet grass and into the tyres, causing significant damage to the left-hand side of the second BMR-run Subaru.
It remains to be seen whether it will be repaired for the ‘Diamond Double’, which gets underway at 17:15 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 31:41.033 | 2:00.772 | 2 |
| 2 | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 0.221 | 2:00.329 | 4 |
| 3 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 14 | 2.799 | 2:00.227 | 27 | |
| 4 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 2.841 | 2:01.783 | 3 |
| 5 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 4.683 | 2:01.581 | 7 | |
| 6 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 5.151 | 2:01.637 | 5 | |
| 7 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 14 | 5.420 | 2:01.772 | 25 |
| 8 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 6.039 | 2:01.924 | 8 | |
| 9 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 6.225 | 2:01.777 | 12 |
| 10 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 14 | 6.844 | 2:01.994 | 23 | |
| 11 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 7.055 | 2:01.958 | 13 | |
| 12 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 7.426 | 2:01.521 | 11 | |
| 13 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 14 | 10.831 | 2:02.783 | 16 | |
| 14 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 11.041 | 2:02.094 | 18 | |
| 15 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 11.498 | 2:01.967 | 9 | |
| 16 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 11.717 | 2:02.178 | 29 | |
| 17 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 12.115 | 2:01.623 | 1 | |
| 18 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 14 | 13.349 | 2:02.566 | 17 | |
| 19 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 14.467 | 2:03.317 | 26 | |
| 20 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 14 | 14.887 | 2:03.365 | 22 | |
| 21 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 14 | 15.302 | 2:02.932 | 14 |
| 22 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 14 | 15.601 | 2:02.908 | 20 | |
| 23 | 24 | Dan WELCH | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 12 | 2 Laps | 2:05.085 | 21 | |
| 24 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 12 | 2 Laps | 2:02.489 | 28 | |
| R | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 9 | DNF | 2:02.579 | 30 |
| R | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 6 | DNF | 2:06.290 | 24 |
| R | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 6 | DNF | 2:05.805 | 15 |
| R | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 3 | DNF | 2:17.925 | 31 | |
| R | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 2 | DNF | 2:16.388 | 6 | |
| R | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 2 | DNF | 2:21.009 | 19 | |
| R | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 0 | DNF | N/A | 10 |