Brands Hatch BTCC: Sutton takes title as rival Turkington retires
Ash Sutton claimed the British Touring Car Championship title in the final race of the season at Brands Hatch after rival Colin Turkington retired on the second lap
Team BMR driver Sutton brought his Subaru Levorg home in third - behind the race winning Toyota Avensis of Rob Austin and Eurotech's Jack Goff - to claim the championship by an eventual winning margin of 21 points.
Sutton started the damp reversed-grid race two places behind WSR driver Turkington in 12th, with the pair working their way up the order in the opening sequence of corners in tandem.
Turkington put a car between himself and Sutton at the final corner on the opening lap by overtaking the Honda Civic Type R of Goff at Clearways to cross the line in fifth place, and then set about chasing after the leading quartet.
But Turkington's charge was brought to a premature end a matter of corners later, after a clash between him and Mat Jackson's Motorbase Ford Focus broke Turkington's rear suspension.
Speedworks Motorsport driver Tom Ingram tapped Jackson on the approach to Graham Hill bend and, seeking an opportunity to put more cars between himself and Sutton, Turkington went to overtake the pair on the run to Surtees.
Turkington cleared Ingram's Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis but, as he moved back on to the racing line, he and Jackson made contact that broke the right-rear upright on Turkington's BMW 125i M Sport.
The Northern Irishman returned to the pits but retired from the race with terminal damage.
That left Sutton - promoted to fourth as a result of the collision ahead - with an unassailable lead in the championship and able to cruise home to the finish.
While Austin had raced well clear at the front of the pack, Sutton clung to the back of Goff and the pair cleared the polesitting Team Hard Volkswagen CC of Mike Epps at Druids at mid-distance, three laps after a safety car period - thrown to recover the stranded Vauxhall Astra of Senna Proctor - had ended.
Sutton stalked Goff thereafter but did not attempt an overtake, and instead settled for third across the line to confirm a first crown in only his second season in the series.
"I'm lost for words," said Sutton.
"It's been a great team effort and I can't thank the team enough for this. It's a dream come true."
Austin eventually won the race by 3.185 seconds, in the final race for his Handy Motorsport team's Toyota Avensis before the squad switches to run an Alfa Romeo Giulietta from 2018, ahead of Goff.
Behind Sutton, Ingram was fourth in his Toyota Avensis and with that claimed third in the drivers' standings, beating Team Dynamics' Gordon Shedden by two points.
Epps clung on to finish a strong fifth ahead of Shedden's Civic, with Jackson bringing his Focus home in seventh and the second Dynamics Civic of Matt Neal finishing eighth.
Race three result
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 17 | 31m25.679s |
2 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 17 | 3.185s |
3 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 17 | 4.741s |
4 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 17 | 10.965s |
5 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 17 | 13.978s |
6 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 17 | 15.024s |
7 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase | Ford | 17 | 15.330s |
8 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 17 | 16.008s |
9 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 17 | 22.924s |
10 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 17 | 24.538s |
11 | Chris Smiley | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | 17 | 25.254s |
12 | Rory Butcher | Motorbase | Ford | 17 | 27.654s |
13 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 17 | 29.191s |
14 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 17 | 31.374s |
15 | Tom Chilton | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 17 | 31.757s |
16 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 17 | 31.924s |
17 | Dave Newsham | BTC Racing | Chevrolet | 17 | 32.385s |
18 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 17 | 32.540s |
19 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | Ford | 17 | 35.108s |
20 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 17 | 35.319s |
21 | Stewart Lines | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | 17 | 35.649s |
22 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 17 | 37.243s |
23 | Martin Depper | Motorbase | Ford | 17 | 40.577s |
24 | Matt Simpson | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 17 | 42.337s |
25 | Ant Whorton-Eales | AmD Tuning | Audi | 17 | 45.225s |
26 | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | 17 | 45.749s |
- | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 9 | Retirement |
- | Josh Cook | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 7 | Retirement |
- | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 2 | Retirement |
- | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 1 | Retirement |
Drivers' standings
Pos | Driver | Points |
---|---|---|
1 | Ash Sutton | 372 |
2 | Colin Turkington | 351 |
3 | Tom Ingram | 311 |
4 | Gordon Shedden | 309 |
5 | Rob Collard | 256 |
6 | Jack Goff | 245 |
7 | Matt Neal | 243 |
8 | Mat Jackson | 210 |
9 | Andrew Jordan | 203 |
10 | Adam Morgan | 187 |
11 | Rob Austin | 174 |
12 | Jason Plato | 146 |
13 | Aiden Moffat | 121 |
14 | Dave Newsham | 108 |
15 | Tom Chilton | 100 |
16 | James Cole | 79 |
17 | Michael Epps | 77 |
18 | Josh Cook | 75 |
19 | Senna Proctor | 63 |
20 | Jake Hill | 63 |
21 | Chris Smiley | 45 |
22 | Ollie Jackson | 42 |
23 | Ant Whorton-Eales | 34 |
24 | Matt Simpson | 30 |
25 | Rob Huff | 26 |
26 | Jeff Smith | 25 |
27 | Aron Taylor-Smith | 25 |
28 | Martin Depper | 22 |
29 | Rory Butcher | 20 |
30 | Brett Smith | 13 |
31 | Josh Price | 9 |
32 | Luke Davenport | 6 |
33 | Daniel Lloyd | 6 |
34 | Stephen Jelley | 2 |
35 | Will Burns | 0 |
36 | Stewart Lines | 0 |
37 | Dennis Strandberg | 0 |
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