Sutton extends BTCC title lead with another big day at Snetterton

Ash Sutton extended his British Touring Car Championship lead to 50 points after a stellar display at Snetterton where he recovered from a qualifying race retirement on Saturday to score points in Sunday’s three championship rounds, including a win in Race 2 and a further podium in Race 3.

Charles Rainford and Gordon Shedden were the other winners on a day where sweltering conditions left drivers battling temperatures of 140 degrees F in their cars. Those hot conditions proved beneficial for the BMW of Rainford in the first race of the day. Allied with the soft tire, he got away well from pole position while Tom Ingram got the better of the other front row starter, Josh Cook, to slip into second at Hamilton.

That early battle allowed West Surrey Racing’s Rainford to clear the field and he'd remain unchalleged for the remainder of the 12 lap contest to win by 3.917s. Ingram locked in second while Cook faced pressure from NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish and Daryl De Leon in the other WSR BMW.

The BMW driver found a way past the Ford man on Bentley straight on lap 7, then took Cook on the inside of Agostini two laps later. He brought it home third to give WSR a one-three finish with Ingram splitting the pair.

Cook held on for fourth ahead of Cammish, with Daniel Rowbottom sixth and the Hyundais of Team VERTU's Tom Chilton and Ricky Collard and Restart Racing seventh, eighth and ninth respectively. Sam Osborne was initially classified 10th but was disqualified for overboosting. That elevated his NAPA Racing UK teammate Sutton to 10th.

After his dismal Saturday, Sutton started 21st and last on the grid, and by leading the championship he only had one lap of TOCA Turbo Boost to use in the opening race of the day. He'd also opted to use the unfavored medium tire. Nevertheless, he completed a fine charge through the field to finish in the top 10 – what would be a good result to most, but it represented his first finish outside the top two so far this season.

“It's a relief,” Rainford said after the race. “When you're starting on pole you can only go backwards from there. The race was controlled beautifully, I was really, really happy with my performance and the performance of the car.

“I was pushing very hard at the start, and could see it looked like, to me from my mirror, that Tom [Ingram] was starting to catch me, which was alarming when he had no boost. So really I was just hoping and waiting for the tires to go off, and I think that happened with kind of four [laps] to go. So from that point, it was just kind of back it down and try and bring it home.”

RACE 1 RESULTS

With Race 1’s podium finishers needing to start the second race of the day on the medium tires, all eyes were on those outside the top three on the grid.

The BMWs made good starts though, with Rainford again leading into Turn 1 and De Leon following him after getting by Ingram on the initial getaway.

Ingram fought back at the second turn, the Wilson hairpin, and that allowed Rainford to again get away and Cook to catch up to the pair squabbling over second. Cammish came with him though and passed the Speedworks Corolla Racing driver round the outside of Brundle for fourth.

By the second lap, Ingram had caught Rainford out front and passed him up the inside of Wilson to take the lead. He immediately began to gap the field but his long-term nemesis Sutton was making up ground behind him.

Sutton made up two positions on the first lap, then – after a stunning move on Ricky Collard and De Leon at the end of lap 5 as he and Collard went either side of the WSR man for fourth – he was into the podium positions by lap 6 having dispatched Cammish who'd got by De Leon himself earlier after a protracted battle.

As Rainford began to fade on the medium tires, Sutton and Cammish both passed him, and Sutton had begun to hunt down Ingram. With the Ford filling his mirrors on the run to Wilson on lap 8, Ingram locked up and ran deep, handing the lead to Sutton.

Ingram's woes would continue as a developing alternator failure would lead to power steering failure, then retirement on lap 10. His retirement allowed his Team VERTU teammates Collard and Tom Chilton to complete the podium behind Sutton, with Cammish fourth ahead of the Cataclean Plato Racing duo of Morgan and Rowbottom.

Gordon Shedden was seventh, with Rainford slipping to eighth by the end of the race. Chris Smiley and De Leon completed the top 10.

Sutton's gap to Collard was over six seconds on the road, so despite receiving a five-second penalty for track limits violations, he was still able to comfortably keep the win, the 51st of his career.

“We knew Race 1 was going to be tough,” said Sutton. “It was a two-race plan to get back to the podium.

“We didn't have the perfect car in Race 1. We made some big changes there, and got the balance exactly where I needed it to, and we just came strong through the whole race where before we’d struggle at the end.

“It feels mega to be back on the top step [of the podium]. Obviously, Race 1, it was a big ask. I aimed for the top 12, we came away with a P110 once a result of clarified – poor old Sam, but yeah, we over-excelled, in my opinion, in Race 1. The medium tire, one lap of boost, it was always going to be hard. That's why it was a two-race plan.”

RACE 2 RESULTS

Sutton drew the number seven for the random partial reverse grid for Race 3, giving Shedden pole ahead of Rowbottom.

Driving the only hatchback remaining in the series, thus lacking aerodynamically compared to the sedans elsewhere in the field, Shedden had to pull off a defensive masterclass to triumph in the last race of the day. He was helped by having eight laps of boost on tap, which would prove vital in his late race duel with Sutton who, after his win in Race 2, had just one lap of boost.

Shedden's first challenge came from Rowbottom who looked round the outside of him at Wilson on the opening lap, but Shedden remained resolute in a sign of what was to come. A lap later Morgan passed Rowbottom to assume the Plato Racing challenge, but by lap 7, after picking off five cars Sutton made a move on Morgan for second.

Sutton then set about Shedden, but with the vast boost disparity he was up against it. He dived up the inside of Shedden at Wilson on lap 8, but with Shedden having the inside line for the following turn, he retook the lead right away.

A lap later Sutton opted for his sole use of the temporary additional power and went round the outside of Turn 1, but Shedden set his car up for the inside of Wilson, and mirrored Sutton's move from the previous lap to not only take the lead, but this time make it stick. While that tense lead battle was going on, Ingram was completing a remarkable run from 21st on the grid. By lap 10 he was up into third.

After sweeping round the outside of Morgan at Turn 1 Morgan fought back, making Ingram wait until Brundle at the end of the Bentley Straight to move into a podium place. And while he also had more boost than Sutton, with just two laps to go, any further advancement wasn't to come.

Morgan eventually slipped to seventh, behind De Leon, Smiley – who took his best finish of the season – and Rainford, with Chilton, Cammish and Rowbottom rounding out the top 10.

RACE 3 RESULTS

“Yeah, executed well,” Shedden (pictured above) said after his 54th career victory. “Ash was coming through, had pace, and he'd also used all his TTB, so had to use every bit of knowledge I had in the book to try and keep [him] behind. What a cracking end to the day for everyone at Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport. It looked a million miles away at the start of the day, so I couldn't be happier.

“We had to kind of dig really deep, but you know, we’ve got lots to work on, but it's a great little boost for everyone in the team, because it's been a tough weekend this weekend, for sure.”

• Watch the British Touring Car Championshipm race LIVE on RACER Network and RACER+