Scintillating start sees Ash Sutton fly to race two win at Thruxton

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton leapt into the lead at the start of the second British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton to canter to a 45^th career victory in the championship.

When the lights went out, Sutton made a superb start, firing his Ford between One Motorsport’s Josh Cook and NAPA team-mate Dan Cammish, before cutting to the inside of pole-sitter Tom Ingram and take the lead through the first corner.

By the end of the opening lap, Sutton had extended his advantage to eight tenths of a second, more than doubling that margin on the second lap, and thereafter Sutton’s margin never dropped below a second.

That left Ingram to take second, almost four seconds behind Sutton at the chequered flag, with One Motorsport’s Josh Cook in third, having fallen to five seconds behind Ingram despite challenging him for second at the mid-distance.

After the race, Cook’s Honda failed the post-race ride height inspection, resulting in his exclusion from the result.

NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom was thus classified in third, prevailing in a race-long battle with Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill. Rowbottom had taken fourth from Hill with a bold move at Seagrave on lap seven, but Hill re-passed a lap later before Rowbottom claimed the place for good on lap 11.

Cammish followed his team-mate home and took fourth, having dropped five places on the opening lap and had to recover ground, regaining sixth from Adam Morgan on lap eight and finally passing Hill for what became fourth on the penultimate lap.

Hill took fifth, ahead of Team Vertu’s Senna Proctor in sixth and Toyota’s James Dorlin in seventh, the latter claiming the reverse-grid pole position for the final race after the top seven were reversed and Cook was excluded.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley scored the Independent win in eighth, with the top ten completed by WSR’s Daryl DeLeon and the second Restart Hyundai of Daniel Lloyd.

Árón Taylor-Smith had been running in ninth until the final lap, when the Toyota driver picked up a puncture and fell to 17^th.

Likewise, Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan also ran inside the top ten and would have been classified in seventh, but for a ten-second time penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping him to 12^th in the final ranking.

Only two drivers failed to finish the race – Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton retired to the pits after six laps with a tyre issue, which had seen Toyota’s Gordon Shedden take to the grass at Church in avoidance of the slowing Hyundai. Shedden had to subsequently pit for his radiator to be cleared and finished down in 19^th.

Mikey Doble was the only other retirement, retiring his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall on lap eight after his team had worked to replace the engine in his car between races one and two.

Un-Limited Motorsport’s Max Hall failed to take the start due to gearbox and engine issues following his race one accident.

Race three is scheduled to get underway at 17:05 BST.

Revised race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	20:37.454	1:15.254	4
2	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	3.875	1:15.791	1
3	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	11.754	1:15.957	5
4	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	16	13.281	1:16.079	2
5	1	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	16	13.752	1:15.970	6
6	18	M		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	15.627	1:16.468	9
7	132	M		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	18.334	1:17.219	7
8	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	20.718	1:16.929	11
9	2	M		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	16	21.659	1:16.695	10
10	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	21.699	1:16.967	13
11	99	M		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	16	24.488	1:16.927	17
12	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	16	25.779	1:15.982	8
13	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	16	26.735	1:17.017	14
14	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	26.995	1:17.035	16
15	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	16	32.944	1:17.246	20
16	12	I		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	16	37.557	1:17.120	19
17	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	43.633	1:16.893	12
18	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	16	57.171	1:18.721	21
19	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	1:18.603	1:17.648	18
20	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	+ 1 LAP	1:17.180	24
EX	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	16	9.075	1:15.978	3
R	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	7	DNF	1:16.447	22
R	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	DNF	1:17.251	15
NS	93	I		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	–	DNS	N/A	23
WD	50	I		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	DNS	N/A	–