BTCC Rockingham: Sutton strengthens title defence with race two win
Reigning champion Ash Sutton won the second race of the British Touring Car Championship at Rockingham on a damp-but-drying track to put himself in the hunt for this year's title
Race one winner Adam Morgan started the event from pole position in his Ciceley Racing Mercedes-Benz A-Class fitted with 75kg, but Sutton's Team BMR Subaru Levorg powered clear away from the line to dominate the race despite two safety car interruptions.
The 24-year-old eventually finished nearly 4.5s ahead of Morgan and has now moved into third place in the points, just 17 off table-topper Tom Ingram (Speedworks Toyota).
"We certain made the right choice on tyres," said Sutton. "I went to the grid on wet tyres and only then fitted the slicks, and so I didn't have as much temperature as those around me.
"But we played it well and I managed to get the grip quite quickly. What a race and the guys in the team have played a huge role in this so thanks to them."
Third place went to Ingram after a sensational drive through the pack in his Avensis.
He had started from 27th place after a fly-by-wire throttle problem in the opening race, but picked his way through the field and claimed third when Senna Proctor's Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra slid wide at the final chicane on lap 17.
"That was one heck of a drive - I just wished we didn't have to do it at all," said Ingram.
"I managed to get to 12th place within a few laps, and my engineer came on the radio and said I had plenty of time to get the rest. I just knuckled down and got on with it."
Proctor held on for fourth place, ahead of Colin Turkington's WSR BMW 125i M Sport and Chris Smiley's BTC Norlin Honda Civic.
Mike Bushell's Team Hard VW CC had run in third place early on, but dropped back down the order to seventh position, ahead of Rory Butcher's AmDTuning MG, Matt Simpson's Eurotech Honda and Tom Chilton's Motorbase Ford Focus, which has been drawn on pole for race three.
Result - 19 laps
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 29m33.566s |
2 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 4.426s |
3 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 5.315s |
4 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 7.327s |
5 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 8.170s |
6 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 12.469s |
7 | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | 12.579s |
8 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 12.722s |
9 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 15.417s |
10 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 16.541s |
11 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 17.481s |
12 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 19.791s |
13 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 19.924s |
14 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 21.876s |
15 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 24.316s |
16 | Daniel Lloyd | BTC Norlin | Honda | 24.741s |
17 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 28.402s |
18 | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | 28.724s |
19 | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 30.956s |
20 | Ricky Collard | WSR | BMW | 31.254s |
21 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 32.099s |
22 | Glynn Geddie | AmD Tuning | MG | 33.034s |
23 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 33.800s |
24 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 34.877s |
25 | Ollie Pidgley | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 39.823s |
26 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 1 Lap |
- | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | Retirement |
- | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | Retirement |
- | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | Retirement |
- | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | Retirement |
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