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Ash Sutton wins Brands Hatch BTCC finale in drag race to finish line

Outgoing champion Ash Sutton won the final British Touring Car Championship race of the season by 0.032s after a dramatic dash to the flag in the reversed grid race

The Team BMR Subaru Levorg racer worked his way into second place after eight laps of the event, and set about slashing the 0.8s advantage that had been built up by the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook, who started on pole position.

The two fought a mighty duel and it looked as if Cook had done enough, but Sutton inched around the outside of his rival as the two cars powered towards the finish line.

Sutton did just enough to take his sixth win of the season to cement fourth place in the standings.

"I was laughing and smiling inside the car - that was one of the best races I have had in the BTCC," said Sutton, who is good friends with his defeated foe. "And it had to be with that guy.

"I didn't make a great start but got my way back though and what a way to finish the season."

Cook said: "I don't think I could have pushed the throttle down any harder on the run to the line: I think I had both feet on it at one stage.

"What a great race and was great to race against Ash. My car was just a little bit too tail happy to hold on, but I am still smiling."

Rob Austin led the early stages of the event in his HMS Alfa Romeo Giulietta until Cook managed to unpick his defences into Paddock Hill Bend on lap five.

Sutton deposed Austin two laps later to set off on his charge. Austin, though, managed to hold on to third place, even though he had been under pressure from the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus of Tom Chilton.

Championship runner-up Tom Ingram fended off Sam Tordoff's Motorbase Ford to the flag to claim fifth place, with Senna Proctor and Chris Smiley rounding out the top eight.

New champion Colin Turkington came home in 23rd spot in his WSR BMW 125i M Sport.

Race three result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 15 23m18.405s
2 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 15 0.032s
3 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 15 0.738s
4 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 15 1.100s
5 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 15 1.662s
6 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 15 1.839s
7 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 15 2.286s
8 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 15 2.550s
9 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 15 3.065s
10 Daniel Lloyd BTC Norlin Honda 15 3.689s
11 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 15 8.300s
12 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 15 11.912s
13 Ricky Collard WSR BMW 15 12.054s
14 James Cole Motorbase Ford 15 12.484s
15 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 15 15.255s
16 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 15 15.720s
17 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 15 16.877s
18 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 15 17.208s
19 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 15 17.509s
20 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 15 18.112s
21 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 15 18.457s
22 Matt Simpson Simpson Racing Honda 15 19.210s
23 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 15 19.417s
24 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 15 19.616s
25 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 15 19.845s
26 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 15 20.112s
27 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 15 1m22.927s
- Ethan Hammerton Team Hard Volkswagen 4 Retirement
- Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 3 Retirement
- Josh Caygill AmD Tuning MG 3 Retirement
- Ollie Pidgley Team Hard Volkswagen 0 Not started

Final drivers' standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Colin Turkington 304
2 Tom Ingram 292
3 Tom Chilton 266
4 Ash Sutton 256
5 Andrew Jordan 247
6 Josh Cook 246
7 Adam Morgan 232
8 Jack Goff 228
9 Matt Neal 223
10 Dan Cammish 218
11 Sam Tordoff 202
12 Senna Proctor 170
13 Chris Smiley 152
14 Rob Austin 126
15 Matt Simpson 120
16 Aiden Moffat 117
17 Rory Butcher 99
18 Daniel Lloyd 87
19 Rob Collard 86
20 Brett Smith 70
21 James Cole 67
22 Tom Oliphant 63
23 Ollie Jackson 59
24 Mike Bushell 59
25 Ricky Collard 46
26 Jake Hill 29
27 Jason Plato 26
28 Bobby Thompson 23
29 Tom Boardman 14
30 Ant Whorton-Eales 6
31 James Nash 6
32 Stephen Jelley 4
33 Glynn Geddie 1
34 Michael Caine 0
35 Daniel Welch 0
36 Sam Smelt 0
37 Josh Price 0
38 Ethan Hammerton 0
39 Carl Boardley 0
40 Ollie Pidgley 0
41 Josh Caygill 0

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