Ash Sutton holds off challenge from Ricky Collard for race one win

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton withstood pressure from Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard to claim victory in a damp opening British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Brands Hatch.

Drizzle just minutes before the start of the race left a greasy track surface, but Sutton made a strong launch to comfortably lead into the first corner as fellow front-row starter Daryl De Leon, and third-on-the-grid Dan Cammish made sluggish starts.

That allowed Collard to spring from fourth to second, diving between De Leon and Cammish, although Cammish stood firm, whilst his team-mate Tom Ingram also made a good start but was baulked by Cammish ahead.

Collard made second his own at Graham Hill Bend, and put early pressure on Sutton, before the race had to be neutralised behind the safety car when Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan went off at Paddock Hill Bend on the second lap and crashed into the tyre barrier. After the race, Cammish was given a five-second penalty for contact with Morgan which led to the shunt.

After six laps at slow speeds, racing resumed on lap nine, with Collard hounding Sutton for the lead. The Hyundai driver nudged Sutton at Clearways at the end of the lap, which slowed his momentum and briefly allowed Ingram into second.

However, Collard was back into second through Paddock on the next lap, as Ingram, running the slower medium-compound tyre, slipped back to fourth behind Cammish.

Collard then nudged Sutton at Clearways and took the lead, although Sutton reclaimed the advantage on the next lap.

The four-time champion then put in a string of fastest laps to extend his lead to over two seconds from Collard, despite having the least TOCA Turbo Boost [TTB] of any driver in the field.

Sutton went on to claim victory – his 50^th in the BTCC – by just over a second from Collard, who scored the fourth podium of his BTCC career.

Tom Ingram completed the podium, having taken the place from Cammish four laps from the finish.

Cammish was thus fourth, ahead of Team VERTU’s Tom Chilton in fifth, who came through from 14^th on the grid. Both drivers were given five-second time penalties after the race, the latter for reversing on the grid, but their classification was unaffected.

NAPA’s Sam Osborne was sixth, meaning each of the top two team’s in last year’s championship had three cars each in the top six.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble was the leading Independent driver in seventh, an impressive performance which also saw him finish as the second-best driver on the slower medium tyre.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley hounded Doble for the Independents win throughout the race but had to settle for eighth.

The top ten was completed by WSR duo Charles Rainford and De Leon, the latter having dropped to eighth on the opening lap alone after contact with several cars.

Toyota’s Josh Cook came from the back of the grid to claim 11^th at the finish line, which became tenth after De Leon was penalised with a five-second penalty. Lewis Selby crossed the line in 12^th but was given a ten-second penalty after the race for contact with Aiden Moffat.

Power Maxed’s Moffat had been battling hard with Selby for 12^th but three laps from the end the duo made contact on the exit of Druids, sending Moffat’s Audi spinning into the barriers, although the Scot was able to continue and took the chequered flag down in 17^th.

After Morgan, the only other retirements from the race were Power Maxed’s Dexter Patterson, who pitted on lap ten after an off at Clearways, and Team VERTU’s Nicolas Hamilton, who, along with Toyota’s Max Buxton, had fitted wet tyres which turned out to be the incorrect call.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:45 BST.

Revised race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	27	24:33.604	47.734	1
2	11	M		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	27	0.974	47.952	4
3	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	27	3.298	47.881	5
4	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	27	8.953	47.974	3
5	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	27	9.290	47.987	14
6	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	27	11.120	48.396	11
7	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	27	12.490	48.572	7
8	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	27	12.795	48.108	13
9	99	I		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	27	13.079	48.505	15
10	66	M		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	17.107	48.431	21
11	2	I		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	27	18.369	47.887	2
12	52	I		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	18.896	48.446	10
13	50	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	20.477	48.583	9
14	132	I		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	27	20.743	48.520	18
15	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	27	24.548	48.577	17
16	15	M		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	27	27.518	48.234	12
17	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	27	31.854	48.917	16
18	19	M		Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	24	+ 3 LAPS	48.800	19
R	28	M		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	DNF	52.382	20
R	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	DNF	53.360	8
R	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	1	DNF	1:04.981	6