Ash Sutton clinches victory in safety car-affected race two at Oulton Park

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton took his fourth victory of the season in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park, benefitting from being the top driver on the soft tyre at the start.

With the top three from race one having to start on the hard tyre, Sutton quickly made the most of his tyre advantage – having sacrificed a podium in race one to ensure he didn’t have to run the rubber in race two.

Sutton jumped Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley at the start, before passing team-mate Dan Cammish for second at Cascades.

Ingram held the lead for the opening lap, but Sutton dived inside at the Island hairpin on the second lap with a late lunge, forcing Ingram wide on the exit as he seized the lead.

Ingram then ceded to Team Vertu team-mate Adam Morgan going into the chicane, before settling into fourth behind the other EXCELR8-run Hyundai of Tom Chilton just before the safety car was called.

The race had to be neutralised because Restart Racing’s Daniel Lloyd had gone off just before Druids, having been squeezed onto the grass by Josh Cook up through Clay Hill and losing control over the kerb, ultimately hitting the barriers hard on the inside of the circuit.

As the barrier repairs were undertaken, six laps passed, with racing resuming on the tenth lap.

Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill quickly dispatched NAPA’s Dan Cammish on hard tyres, into cascades, opening the door for Senna Proctor and One Motorsport’s Josh Cook to follow into sixth and seventh respectively.

Hill then spent much of the rest of the race pressuring Ingram for fourth but despite having a tyre advantage he could find no way through.

Sutton went on to claim victory by just under two seconds from Morgan, with Chilton completing the podium.

Ingram was fourth, limiting the loss of positions on the hard tyre, with Hill the leading BMW in fifth.

NAPA Racing UK’s Daniel Rowbottom took sixth, coming from 14^th on the grid to make up eight places and demonstrate the strong pace he had shown in practice before a poor qualifying session left him somewhat out of position on the grid early in the day.

Cook took sixth, after passing Proctor for the position three laps from the finish. Proctor had to manage an issue with his front-left corner in the closing laps, with smoke emanating from his Hyundai, although he made it to the finish in eighth.

Toyota’s Gordon Shedden passed Cammish for ninth on the final lap – a crucial pass which gave the Corolla driver the reverse-grid pole position for the final race after legendary anchorman Steve Rider completed the draw at the insistence of Sutton.

However, it was far from a straightforward race for Shedden, who had made contact with WSR’s Charles Rainford at Old Hall corner on the restart lap, sending the BMW spinning into the barriers, which were left partially strewn across the grass thereafter, although Rainford was able to continue and eventually finished in 21^st.

Cammish was tenth, whilst Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble was 11^th and second in the Independents’ class.

Toyota’s Árón Taylor-Smith was running in tenth before the Irishman pulled off the circuit with an engine issue on his Toyota.

Victory for Sutton moves him back into the championship lead with 216 points ahead of Ingram on 209 points. Cammish is now third, albeit a substantial 65 points adrift.

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

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	29:34.907	1:24.460	4
2	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	1.715	1:24.792	6
3	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	3.612	1:24.966	5
4	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	8.830	1:25.767	1
5	1	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	18	9.263	1:25.680	7
6	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	10.812	1:25.504	14
7	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	18	13.814	1:25.720	9
8	18	M		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	15.284	1:25.617	8
9	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	15.447	1:25.463	16
10	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	15.874	1:25.763	2
11	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	16.044	1:25.638	17
12	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	17.284	1:25.994	20
13	132	M		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	18.952	1:25.889	10
14	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	21.012	1:26.564	3
15	2	M		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	21.567	1:26.067	18
16	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	24.072	1:26.527	15
17	26	M		Finn LESLIE	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	25.487	1:26.339	23
18	93	I		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	26.071	1:26.260	25
19	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	28.735	1:27.030	24
20	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	18	29.247	1:26.914	19
21	99	M		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	30.890	1:25.625	11
22	12	I		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	13	+ 5 LAPS	1:28.306	21
R	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	DNF	1:25.743	13
R	50	I		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	14	DNF	1:27.041	22
R	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	2	DNF	1:26.833	12