The Copse Corner crowd roared their approval as Ash Sutton surged alongside Aron Taylor-Smith down the pitstraight and then squeezed ahead right in front of them at the start of the final lap of race two. Taylor-Smith, the popular underdog in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra; Sutton, the impending fourth-time champion with his all-conquering Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST; you’d think they’d have been cheering for the Irish veteran. But this is Ash Sutton, racer extraordinaire, the man who makes the impossible happen, in this case an incredible victory from 23rd on the grid.
Yet it might not have turned out like this. The British Touring Car Championship’s annual visit to the Silverstone National Circuit last weekend was full of drama. Some of that hampered Sutton; arguably more of it knocked back Tom Ingram, now the only man who can deprive the Hertfordshire racer of the 2023 crown with one round remaining. The reigning champion put in his own sensational drive just behind Sutton at the wheel of his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, from 22nd to third. And he was sure that the victory should have been his…
The reason why Sutton and Ingram started so low down was because of the bizarre opening race. Indeed, with Colin Turkington and Dan Cammish behind them, has there ever been a stronger bottom six on a BTCC grid? From this quartet, it was time for eight sleeves to be metaphorically rolled up.
Ingram, from his advantageous starting position, was the highest-placed of them as they headed down the Wellington Straight on the first lap, getting a cheeky nudge from
