Brands Hatch BTCC: Sutton closes out season with assertive Race 3 win

Sutton was drawn fourth on the reversed grid, but a slow start from Rory Butcher aided the progress of the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 into third position off the line, and then Sutton got a good exit from Westfield to pass Tom Chilton for second at Dingle Dell.

Out front was poleman Stephen Jelley, but Sutton immediately slashed the gap to the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport, with Dan Rowbottom in pursuit after passing Chilton.

Sutton got a good run through Clearways at the end of the third lap and, aided by a push from Rowbottom, was able to easily clear Jelley by the time he reached Paddock Hill Bend.

A forceful Rowbottom got his Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R around the outside of Jelley at Druids, and claimed second place on the inside line at Graham Hill Bend, as Jelley was flicked wide onto the grass.

By the end of that fourth lap, Sutton was one second in front, but Rowbottom trimmed the gap on the next lap before the safety car emerged thanks to Jack Mitchell crashing at Hawthorn.

Sutton aced the restart, and within three laps was over a second ahead of the Honda of Rowbottom. He extended the gap to 3.378s with a lap remaining before backing off to cross the line 1.369s in front.

“We were laughing – it’s the first race I’ve done that hasn’t mattered in my touring car career, and the pressure was off,” said Sutton, whose previous two title wins came in the final race.

“Stephen was always going to be tough, but I got a sweet cutback out of the last corner and a push from Dan helped.”

Rowbottom came under pressure in the late stages from a surging Tom Ingram, who had rocketed his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N up from 12th on the grid, but the calm Honda ace had enough in hand to keep his pursuer at arm’s length.

Daniel Rowbottom, Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Another charger was Jake Hill, who forced his way up from 10th on the grid to claim fourth in his Motorbase-run MB Motorsport Ford Focus, via contact at Surtees with Jelley when the Ford went up the inside but the BMW closed the door.

As Jelley wobbled off course to the back of the field, Hill got stuck into a ferocious scrap and sliced ahead of Josh Cook’s BTC Racing Honda and Chilton’s Ciceley Motorsport BMW in one move after Cook had gone up the inside of Chilton at Stirling’s.

Hill set fastest lap, but was too far behind Ingram to catch the Hyundai and had to settle for fourth.

Cook completed an excellent weekend and finished fifth, completing a come-from-behind day to grab third place in the championship from under the noses of Ingram (who ended up fourth) and Hill (fifth).

Chilton finished sixth, while Gordon Shedden’s Dynamics Honda just fended off the Team Hard Cupra of Jack Goff for seventh.

Butcher ended up ninth in his Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla after first-lap contact at Graham Hill Bend with championship runner-up Colin Turkington.

That sent the Northern Irishman off track, and a nasty rut ripped out the right-rear suspension, putting him out of the race.

Jason Plato completed the top 10 in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.

BTCC Brands Hatch II Race 3 results - 18 laps

Cla	Driver	Chassis	Time	Gap
1	Ashley Sutton		30'22.671
2	Daniel Rowbottom		30'24.040	1.369
3	Tom Ingram		30'24.173	1.502
4	Jake Hill		30'25.945	3.274
5	Josh Cook		30'30.672	8.001
6	Tom Chilton		30'31.631	8.960
7	Gordon Shedden		30'32.353	9.682
8	Jack Goff		30'32.714	10.043
9	Rory Butcher		30'34.663	11.992
10	Jason Plato		30'35.673	13.002
11	Ollie Jackson		30'37.477	14.806
12	Chris Smiley		30'38.016	15.345
13	Daniel Lloyd		30'38.633	15.962
14	Aron Taylor-Smith		30'39.885	17.214
15	Tom Oliphant		30'40.132	17.461
16	Adam Morgan		30'40.368	17.697
17	Sam Osborne		30'41.847	19.176
18	Aiden Moffat		30'42.068	19.397
19	Senna Proctor		30'43.216	20.545
20	Jade Edwards		30'43.814	21.143
21	Sam Smelt		30'44.133	21.462
22	Andy Neate		30'54.636	31.965
23	Nicolas Hamilton		30'55.174	32.503
24	Stephen Jelley		31'04.798	42.127
25	Andy Wilmot		1 lap
26	Jack Mitchell		14 laps
27	Colin Turkington		17 laps
28	Carl Boardley		18 laps
29	Rick Parfitt Jr.		18 laps
View full results