Sutton, Taylor-Smith, Ingram share Brands Hatch BTCC spoils

Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram were once again winners in the British Touring Car Championship, with their wins bookending a superb drive in mixed conditions from Aron Taylor-Smith in the second race of the day on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit.

Starting from pole in the first race of the day, NAPA Racing UK driver Sutton (above) took off into an early lead, while light rain that started before the race began – a stark contrast to the sweltering sunshine of Saturday – meant that a predictable strong start from the rear-wheel-drive BMW of Daryl DeLeon from second on the grid didn‘t materialize. He was quickly picked off by Dan Cammish and fourth-placed starter Ricky Collard, who vaulted to second.

Sutton pulled away in front meanwhile but the race was quickly neutralized after the conditions caught out Adam Morgan who went off at Paddock Hill Bend. When the race restarted, Collard applied immense pressure on Sutton, but the four-time champion held firm and resisted the charge to win by 0.974s over Collard, claiming his 50th BTCC win.

Ingram was third after passing Cammish who took fourth, while Tom Chilton made it three Team VERTU Hyundais in the top five.

Sam Osborne made it an even split between NAPA Racing UK and Team VERTU in the top-six with a stellar charge from 11th on the grid, ahead of top Independent runner Mikey Doble and Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley, with West Surrey Racing’s Charles Rainford and Speedowrks Corolla Racing’s Josh Cook rounding out the top-10. DeLeon ultimately faded to 11th by the end of the race.

Nicolas Hamilton and Dexter Patterson joined Morgan in failing to finish.

RACE 1 RESULTS

Rain once again fell as Race 2 was getting underway, but with most drivers opting to keep with the slick tires, it became an entertaining affair.

Once again it looked to be a duel between Sutton and Collard for the win. The pair exchanged places multiple times, but Aron Taylor-Smith (above) emerged from nowhere to streak into the lead and win by 3.409s when the race was stopped four laps short of the intended 24 after a crash at Druids.

Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver Taylor-Smith started 13th on the grid but in the mixed conditions, his Toyota Corolla’s narrow setup found its sweet spot, allowing the Irishman to cut through the field. His win was his first in 10 years – 3,542 days to be exact – with his last victory coming in the third race at Rockingham in 2016.

“It's been a hard, hard few years,” Taylor-Smith told RACER. “A lot of people have continued to believe in me, and probably believed in me more than myself at times, so it's nice to pay that back.

“[I was] just hanging on for dear life. That's the truth of it. These conditions are hard, but what Craig [Porley, Taylor-Smith’s race engineer and Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s technical advisor] has given me on the car, it made it easy.

“I had so much grip I could trust it, could switch off my brain and just ring its neck. The harder you push in those kinds of damp conditions, the more heat you generate, the easier it gets. So you kind of just have to hold on for dear life.

“It's really hard, and it's sketchy, but we made a few tweaks on the grid and found something that was wrong in the car after race one, putting everything right gave me the package to really ring its neck and get this win for everyone at Laser.”

After again trading places over and over with Collard, Sutton took second, ahead of Collard, with Ingram fourth and Aiden Moffat taking Independent honors in fifth ahead of his LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing teammate Doble.

Cook made progress to finish seventh, ahead of Restart Racing James Dorlin, with Patterson powering through from 20th on the grid to take ninth in the third Power Maxed Audi ahead of DeLeon.

Cammish fell out of the top five following a run through the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend, while after his strong performance in the first race of the day, his teammate Osbourne's day ended in the gravel at Druids.

His stricken car was hit by Rainford – who dropped out of the lead battler earlier after contact with Sutton – bringing out a red flag. Max Buxton, Chilton, and Gordon Shedden also failed to finish, while Lewis Selby also went off early on at Druids.

RACE 2 RESULTS

For Race 3, the randomized top-eight reverse grid shuffled all eight cars, meaning Dorlin started from pole ahead of Cook with Doble and Moffat making up the second row of the grid.

Dorlin was immediately under pressure from Sutton, however, who rocketed from seventh on the grid to challenge for the lead at Druids on the opening lap. Both faced a challenge from Doble, who kept Dorlin behind him, but couldn’t prevent Sutton from snatching first.

But all were at the mercy of Ingram (above), who after starting from fifth, was another to make a good getaway from the grid and after passing Sutton for the lead early in the race, never looked back and won by a convincing 3.848s.

Sutton kept his 100% podium streak for the season going with second, while Doble took his second podium finish of the season after his win in the season opener with third.

DeLeon was fourth, ahead of Cook, Morgan, and Shedden who moved forward from 20th on the grid, while Dorlin faded to eighth by the end of the race, his medium tire-shod Hyundai unable to keep those around him with a tire advantage behind.

Race 2 winner Taylor-Smith and Moffat completed the top-10, with Buxton and Collard were the final race's only DNFs.

RACE 3 RESULTS

Ingram’s Race 3 win provided welcome respite for the reigning champion after a tough start to the year in which he lost both the qualifying race and Race 1 win at Donington due to penalties.

“We had a difficult start to the season, frankly, so it's good to finally get a win,” Ingram told RACER. “We've already won two races this year – in terms of the qualifying race as well – but have kept neither.

“We're quick, we're fast, we’ve just not quite had the luck to go with it at the moment. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn't. You've just got to knuckle down and crack on with what you dealt.

“So it was a good weekend all in all. Managed to recover some points out of it. We've lost ground in the championship, unfortunately, but there’s a long way to go. A lot that can go right, there’s a lot that can go wrong, we'll keep our heads up and keep fighting.

“I'm old enough and most certainly ugly enough to have been around it long enough to know that you'd never get a clean run at it – or if you do get a clean run at it, that's more the unusual thing. My season last year, I think, was probably very unusual, and it's probably kidded me a little bit that I've not had a bad weekend for a while. So I kind of forget what they're like.”

Ingram leaves Brands Hatch second in the points, 47 adrift of Sutton whose redeveloped Ford has looked strong so far. But Ingram isn’t getting too worried about the Focus Titanium Saloon helmed by his long-time rival.

“We out-qualified them at Donington, we out-qualified them this weekend, but I had a full allocation of boost. I’ve just not had the luck," he said. “I don't think we have anything to worry about in terms of not having the pace, because I think we definitely have. I think it's just one of those that it's just not quite fell our way so far. I'm not concerned, I'm not worried. I think we're good.”

The 2026 BTCC season continues in two weeks time at Snetterton, the longest circuit on the calendar, in two week’s time. Again, all three races will be live on RACER Network.