Although Ash Sutton only needed a handful of points to wrap up his fourth British Touring Car Championship title at Brands Hatch, there was still a chink of light for his main rival Tom Ingram.
However, from the moment Sutton’s newly renamed Alliance Racing Ford Focus took to the 2.6-mile circuit, the glimmer was firmly extinguished for his Excelr8 Motorsort Hyundai rival. He raced from pole to wrap up the crown in the opener and land the big prize. He then repeated the domination with a pressure-free run in race two.
Race three was an end-of-term bun fight in which the new champ was fired onto the grass midway through and Jake Hill seared his way to the front in his MB Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport.
The result might have been predictable, but the path to get there provided plenty of thrills along the way.
Race 1
There was a double benefit for Sutton’s push for pole on Saturday afternoon. Not only would it give him a clear view up to the entry of Paddock Hill Bend for race one, it would also earn him an extra point. He achieved it in fine style with three laps good enough for top slot and a fourth that was stripped for a track-limits infringement. It meant he went into the opener with 46 points in his pocket.
Rory Butcher lined up second in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla with Sutton’s man focus, Ingram, heading row two alongside Dan Rowbottom’s Alliance Racing Ford Focus.
The tyre conundrum could have thrown another curve ball at Sutton, but both he and Ingram went for the white-sidewalled softer Goodyears, as did fifth-placed Bobby Thompson (Team Hard Cupra R).
Ingram knew that the opening lap would present his
