Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

BTCC Snetterton: Ash Sutton soaks up pressure for victory

Ash Sutton took his third win of the British Touring Car Championship season at Snetterton as he fended off huge pressure over the closing stages of the second race

Polesitter Jack Goff (Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R) made a late call to swap to slick tyres in the drying conditions but was too late out of the pitlane, meaning he was forced to start from the back of the grid.

That left Sutton with a clear run to the opening corner and he capitalised, with Dan Cammish in his wheel tracks in the Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R.

Sutton was able to control the pace but his five-second lead was wiped out by a safety car on lap 10 of 14.

By that stage, Cammish had come under pressure from the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook, who pounced when the race went green again with two racing laps remaining.

Cook then set off after Sutton and put him under serious pressure over the opening two corners but failed to unseat the winner by 0.2s.

Reigning champion Sutton, who is now up to third in the points, was delighted: "The safety car certainly made life a lot harder for me. We are still lacking some performance in the car in the dry, and the circuit was getting better all the time in terms of grip.

"I knew that Josh was faster and he gave me a wake-up call. With another lap, I am not sure I could have held on to the win."

Cook had taken second from Cammish just as the safety car was deployed but said he wasn't sure if the move had been legal.

He explained: "I gave the position back and then went for it again when it went green - it wasn't worth risking anything for what was, at that stage, only a possible win and I had been unsighted. It was a great race though."

Cammish's grip on third came under pressure from the flying Tom Ingram (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis) on the last lap. Ingram had started in 27th place after an alternator failure in race one, but ran 12th after a barnstorming opening lap.

He picked off his rivals until he arrived on Cammish's bootlid, and then out-dragged him on the run out of the final corner to the line by just 0.04s to score an unlikely podium.

Chris Smiley had climbed to third place initially in his BTC Norlin Honda Civic but slipped back as the race progressed.

He held on to fifth behind Cammish by fending off a huge queue of cars, including Sam Tordoff (Motorbase Ford Focus), Senna Proctor (Power Maxed Vauxhall) and Tom Oliphant (Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes-Benz A-Class).

The top 10 was completed by Andrew Jordan's WSR BMW 125i M Sport and series returnee Ant Whorton-Eales in the AmDTuning.com MG.

Goff could only recover to 17th, but he was ahead of Matt Neal's Team Dynamics Honda, which had suffered early damage and a spin. He crossed the line in 21st position.

Title leader Colin Turkington, in his WSR BMW 125i M Sport, started 15th but was tapped off the circuit at the opening corner and sustained severe suspension damage as he rejoined, which ruined his charge.

His gap at the top of the table has now been slashed to four points from Ingram.

The third race of the day, the double points special celebration event, is due to take place at 1715hrs.

Goff is due to line up on pole ahead of Neal and Motorbase Performance driver Tom Chilton (Motorbase Ford Focus).

Race result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 31m41.033s
2 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 0.221s
3 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 2.799s
4 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 2.841s
5 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 4.683s
6 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 5.151s
7 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 5.420s
8 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 6.039s
9 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 6.225s
10 Ant Whorton-Eales AmD Tuning MG 6.844s
11 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 7.055s
12 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 7.426s
13 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 10.831s
14 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 11.041s
15 Daniel Lloyd BTC Norlin Honda 11.498s
16 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 11.717s
17 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 12.115s
18 James Cole Motorbase Ford 13.349s
19 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 14.467s
20 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 14.887s
21 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 15.302s
22 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 15.601s
23 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 2 Laps
- Daniel Welch Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement
- Rob Collard WSR BMW Retirement
- Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru Retirement
- Colin Turkington WSR BMW Retirement
- Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi Retirement
- Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo Retirement
- Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement
- Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes Retirement


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article BTCC Snetterton: Jack Goff beats Ash Sutton in thrilling finish
Next article Snetterton BTCC: Matt Neal wins Double Diamond anniversary race

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe