Ash Sutton extends championship lead with qualifying race win

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton was the biggest beneficiary from an opening lap scrap in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying race at Brands Hatch, claiming victory on Saturday.

Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram had been the fastest driver in the day’s earlier qualifying session to line up on pole, but as the lights went out the fast-starting BMW of WSR’s Daryl De Leon jumped from third on the grid to second before the first corner, muscling out NAPA’s Dan Cammish.

Ingram was then muscled out of the lead by De Leon at Graham Hill Bend with slight contact, allowing Sutton to pass both on the run up to Surtees, as Ingram fell to fifth.

The four-time champion then controlled the race to the chequered flag, winning by 1.6 seconds ahead of De Leon, although that margin increased at the final corner when the BMW driver out-braked himself and went too deep, very nearly going through the gravel.

De Leon nonetheless held on to take second, with Cammish completing the podium in third.

Sutton has thus added a further ten points to his championship tally, with a healthy 25-point advantage over second-placed Cammish in the standings already.

Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard was fourth, having tucked in behind the leading trio as they passed Ingram.

Ingram failed to make any further progress after being muscled out, taking the chequered flag in fifth.

Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan took sixth, finishing where he started, ahead of Power Maxed Racing duo Mikey Doble and Dexter Patterson in seventh and eighth, the Audi duo likewise not making any forward progress.

Speedworks Corolla Racing’s Josh Cook had looked set to take ninth, but the Toyota driver suffered from a front-left puncture with two laps to go.

That left fellow Toyota racers Árón Taylor-Smith and Gordon Shedden to complete the top ten for Laser Tools Racing, the Corolla drivers having made contact between themselves in their battle for supremacy.

WSR’s Charles Rainford had been challenging Ingram for fifth at the end of the opening lap, but the BMW driver had a big slide exiting Druids on the second lap, losing him momentum and then going wide in the melee at the next corner, also catching out Tom Chilton.

That meant Chilton fell to the very back, whilst Rainford dropped to 18^th. However, Chilton was able to recover more ground over the 14-minutes race, finishing in 15^th, ahead of Rainford in 16^th.

Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:30 BST on Sunday.

Qualifying Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	18	14:33.391	47.750	5
2	2	I		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	1.632	47.759	3
3	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	18	2.091	47.712	2
4	11	M		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	2.431	47.634	4
5	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	3.065	47.741	1
6	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	18	5.566	47.876	6
7	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	18	6.196	47.895	7
8	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	18	7.846	48.007	8
9	50	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	14.147	48.208	12
10	52	I		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	14.609	48.115	14
11	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	18	14.828	48.218	13
12	132	I		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	15.117	47.962	21
13	15	M		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	18	15.326	48.254	15
14	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	15.704	48.135	17
15	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	15.992	48.093	9
16	99	I		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	16.407	48.153	10
17	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	18	17.877	48.349	19
18	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	18	19.288	48.076	18
19	19	M		Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	21.778	48.452	16
20	66	M		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	+ 1 LAP	48.013	11
21	28	M		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	16	+ 2 LAPS	48.414	20