Finally, Ash Sutton’s virtually unopposed run in the British Touring Car Championship has been halted, and in fine fashion too.
The Motorbase Performance Ford Focus man left the fifth meeting of the season without a winners’ trophy in his hands for the first time since the opening event in April. Even worse, his two podiums were then followed by a non-finish after he made contact with the pitwall at the start of race three.
His frustration was in stark contrast to the BMW drivers, and mostly Jake Hill. The MB Motorsport man had his weekend of weekends with two wins in races one and two, and then a feisty second place in the finale to round out a near-perfect performance.
He had followed the sister WSR car of Colin Turkington across the finish line in race three in a rout for the German motors, which filled the podium.
The BMWs have shown their hand in terms of pace, and the BTCC has shown its hand too in terms of pulling the rug from under any driver’s feet at any moment. Sutton is still atop the points table but a consistent weekend for Tom Ingram (Excelr8 Hyundai i30 N) means the gap at the head of the standings at the halfway point is only six points.
Race 1
Sutton was supreme again in qualifying, bagging the top slot in the 35-minute opening period by a handsome 0.3s, and then repeating the trick with even more conviction in the final 10-minute shootout for the top 10. The Motorbase man set two laps fast enough for top slot and headed Hill’s BMW 330e by 0.2s.
The effervescent Ricky Collard lined up third in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla alongside the Team Hard Cupra R of Bobby Thompson,
