Race report

BTCC Silverstone: Record-breaker Sutton wins fifth title in style

Ash Sutton charges from 12th to victory ‘in the Ash style’ to take his fifth BTCC crown

Ash Sutton is a record-breaking five-time British Touring Car Championship title winner after a signature storm from 12th on the grid to victory at Silverstone.

Sutton and his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium were equipped with the soft Goodyear tyres and the full quota of 14 laps of TOCA Turbo Boost for this race, and he was already up to fifth within the first two laps.

He then picked off Mikey Doble for fourth on lap three, Tom Chilton two tours later for third, and Aiden Moffat a further two laps on for second. Sutton then closed in on the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon, who had passed poleman and early leader Moffat for the lead on the sixth lap.

De Leon, fourth in the opening race, had just two laps remaining from his allocation of TTB, while Sutton had nine available. It was no contest. On the ninth lap, Sutton dived down the inside at Copse Corner, and away he went to victory by 5.449 seconds.

“I’m lost for words,” said Sutton, whose dropping behind Chris Smiley in the first race gave him the opportunity to wrap up the title in style rather than with a midfield finish. “I’ve been trying to hold it back all day. I even had my little boy shouting down the radio, ‘Good luck Daddy.’

“What a way to have a career in the BTCC. It’s been phenomenal since I joined in 2016, and I can’t thank these guys from the team enough.

“The race wins have been exceptional, the podiums, the results. But I wanted to do it in the Ash style. It was well worth it!”

Photo by: JEP

Not only that, but the Alliance/NAPA Ford squad has completed a clean sweep of the main BTCC championships with the results at Silverstone, adding manufacturers’ and teams’ glory to Sutton’s drivers’ title.

The runner-up position in this race went not to De Leon, but to Adam Morgan, who showed great pace in his CPRL Mercedes A35 Saloon, passing the Anglo-Filipino’s BMW on the Wellington Straight just after half-distance.

De Leon then came under pressure from his own team-mate Charles Rainford, who got ahead with four laps remaining to spearhead a WSR BMW 3-4.

Dan Rowbottom was another CPRL Mercedes pilot on the move, the bearded Midlander working his way up to fifth ahead of the Alliance Ford of Dan Cammish, who prior to the race was the only driver who could deny Sutton the title.

The problem was, Cammish was starting 21st, but he made good progress up the order and retains second in the championship ahead of Tom Ingram, whose Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback was eighth behind the Speedworks Motorsport-run Laser Tools Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Aron Taylor-Smith.

Ingram, who was the highest-placed finisher to run medium tyres in this race, was drawn on the front row for the reversed-grid finale, but it will be Moffat starting from pole again. The Scot went backwards on his medium rubber and minimum four laps of TTB, but both he and Ingram can use the soft compound in the final race.

Next home were Gordon Shedden and Chris Smiley, but track-limits penalties for both promoted Josh Cook – who chose medium tyres for his Speedworks Toyota – to 10th.

BTCC Silverstone - Race 2 results

RACE2

All Stats

Cla	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	Points
1	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	22	21'16.062		20
2	A. Morgan Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	22	+5.449 21'21.511	5.449	17
3	C. Rainford West Surrey Racing	BMW 330i M Sport	22	+8.467 21'24.529	3.018	15
4	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing	BMW 330i M Sport	22	+9.861 21'25.923	1.394	13
5	D. Rowbottom Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	22	+10.308 21'26.370	0.447	11
6	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	22	+12.606 21'28.668	2.298	10
7	A. Taylor-Smith Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+13.079 21'29.141	0.473	9
8	T. Ingram Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N	22	+13.684 21'29.746	0.605	8
9	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	22	+15.314 21'31.376	1.630	7
10	J. Cook Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+19.401 21'35.463	4.087	6
11	T. Chilton Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N	22	+20.291 21'36.353	0.890	5
12	G. Shedden Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+20.676 21'36.738	0.385	4
13	L. Selby NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	22	+20.841 21'36.903	0.165	3
14	D. Patterson Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	22	+21.356 21'37.418	0.515	2
15	N. Hamilton Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N	22	+21.527 21'37.589	0.171	1
16	M. Doble LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	22	+21.903 21'37.965	0.376
17	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	22	+22.364 21'38.426	0.461
18	C. Smiley Restart Racing	Hyundai i30N	22	+22.439 21'38.501	0.075
19	R. Bensley Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+22.446 21'38.508	0.007
20	L. Gilbert West Surrey Racing	BMW 330i M Sport	22	+24.109 21'40.171	1.663
21	N. Halstead Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	22	+35.082 21'51.144	10.973
22	O. Kawashima Team Vertu	Hyundai i30N	19
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