Croft BTCC: Ash Sutton scores first win of 2018 in Subaru one-two

Sutton held the lead when the lights went out but the fast-starting BMW of Andrew Jordan was able to slot into second on the run to Clervaux.

A clash behind between Stephen Jelley and Rob Austin led to the safety car being deployed until lap four, when Sutton immediately opened up a gap of nearly a second over Jordan behind.

WSR man Jordan then came under increasing pressure from Jason Plato in the second of the Subarus.

Plato eventually made his move at the end of the 10th of the 17 laps, holding a tighter line coming out of the final corner to draw alongside Jordan on the start/finish straight.

Although Jordan could defend into the first turn, Plato was able to put his nose up the inside through Hawthorn and made the move stick into the chicane to go second.

Once through, Plato set about chasing down his BMR team-mate ahead but, despite closing to within a second of the lead, he had to settle for second spot behind Sutton.

It was also the first win since the team switched to Swindon-prepared engines at the start of the year.

"I didn't think we'd be in this position a few weeks at Oulton Park," Sutton said.

"Running the hard tyre made life a bit harder but the gamble paid off. I knew the old boy was coming for me towards the end but I had a bit left in the tank when I needed it.

"It's great for Subaru, for BMR and for Swindon to get a win under our belt."

Having slipped down to third spot, Jordan dropped away from the leading pair and was forced to defend from Tom Ingram - who was enjoying a strong run as best of the front-wheel drive cars in his Toyota Avensis.

Ingram had a look at the hairpin with four laps to go but was then gifted the place at the start of the next lap when Jordan ran wide into the Clervaux gravel and plummeted down the order.

That left Ingram free to round out the podium, with Sam Tordoff edging out Colin Turkington in the battle for fourth place.

Tordoff had been dicing with Ingram early on but ultimately found himself forced to defend from the BMW behind in the closing laps, with the pair split by just a tenth of a second as they crossed the line.

Rob Collard rounded out the top six in the second of the WSR-run BMWs having run nose-to-tail with Turkington throughout the race.

Josh Cook and Dan Lloyd completed the top eight, Lloyd taking his best result since returning to the series at Oulton Park with the BTC Norlin squad.

Jordan's moment at the first corner would ultimately result in him crossing the line down in 10th spot, just behind Matt Neal's Honda - which came through from 15th on the grid after his qualifying troubles to take ninth.

Mid-race contact for Neal's team-mate Dan Cammish played a part in him finishing outside the points in 19th, while Jack Goff failed to make much forward progress from 26th on the grid and crossed the line 21st.

That was still a better result than fellow title challenger Adam Morgan, who retired with damaged suspension.

Race one result