Ash Sutton heads NAPA Racing 1-2 as Tom Ingram retires

Ash Sutton led home a NAPA Racing UK 1-2 in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Donington Park, as Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram retired with alternator issues.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble, who had inherited the race one win after Ingram’s disqualification, started the race from pole but it was Sutton and WSR’s Charles Rainford who made better starts and diced for the lead through Turn 1, with Sutton emerging in front after a switchback on Rainford.

There was less than a lap of racing until the safety car was called upon to retrieve Nicolas Hamilton’s Hyundai from the gravel at Redgate corner, with the race staying neutralised for three laps.

During that time, Plato Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom also retired to the pits, parking his Mercedes straight into the garage with a crank sensor issue which would necessitate an engine change ahead of race three.

Racing resumed on lap five, and Sutton quickly began to establish a comfortable margin over Rainford, who began to come under pressure from the second NAPA Ford of Dan Cammish in the final third of the race, after Cammish passed Doble for third into the Old Hairpin on lap six.

Cammish passed Rainford for second into Redgate corner on lap 16, although Rainford fought back and almost regained the position through the Craner Curves.

But Cammish broke clear after that as Rainford himself began to be pressured by Gordon Shedden, giving NAPA a first 1-2 finish since Thruxton in June 2024.

Laser Tools Racing’s Shedden went around the outside of Rainford at Redgate to take the final podium position three laps from the finish.

Power Maxed Racing’s Aiden Moffat finished in fourth after taking advantage of Shedden’s pass to follow past Rainford, with Daryl De Leon also sneaking through at the Craner Curves in the process to take fifth.

That left Rainford to take the chequered flag in sixth, whilst Power Maxed’s Dexter Patterson was seventh.

Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard was eighth, and in doing so the Hyundai driver has secured the reverse-grid pole for the final race of the day after Sutton randomly drew the top eight to be inverted.

The top ten was completed by Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan and Speedworks Motorsport’s Josh Cook, the latter having struggled to make significant progress up the order after starting at the back following his race one retirement.

Doble slumped to 14^th at the finish, with the Power Maxed driver dropping like a stone following the safety car period – in three laps of racing the Audi driver lost seven places and he continued to fall back over the rest of the race.

The final race is scheduled to get underway at 17:30 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	21	26:18.898	1:08.061	2
2	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	21	2.634	1:08.206	4
3	52	I		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	3.038	1:08.551	5
4	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	21	4.505	1:08.412	6
5	2	I		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	5.740	1:08.293	12
6	99	I		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	6.126	1:08.491	3
7	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	21	10.971	1:08.658	7
8	11	M		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	21	12.796	1:09.015	19
9	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	21	14.309	1:09.228	10
10	66	M		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	15.201	1:08.693	20
11	50	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	16.807	1:09.103	8
12	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	21	17.676	1:09.101	16
13	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	21	18.084	1:08.760	9
14	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	21	19.188	1:09.570	1
15	15	M		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	21	21.898	1:09.228	15
16	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	21	22.335	1:09.003	14
17	132	I		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	21	22.971	1:09.440	13
R	19	M		Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	6	DNF	1:11.883	18
R	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	2	DNF	1:36.362	11
R	28	M		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	0	DNF	N/A	17
R	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	0	DNF	N/A	21