Ash Sutton recovers from tardy start to grab ninth win

Ash Sutton recovered from a below-par start to fight his way back to the front and secure a ninth win of the BTCC season, allowing him to strengthen his championship lead in the process.

Sutton suffered wheelspin off the line in his Ford Focus, which allowed both Tom Ingram and Ricky Collard to get ahead on the run to Redgate for the first time.

Collard then ran wide on the exit of the Old Hairpin which allowed Sutton to nip back ahead and he closed onto the rear of Ingram before diving down the inside at the hairpin on lap two.

Ingram tried to come back at his rival on the run to the final corner but was on the outside line, with Sutton able to make the move stick and secure the lead.

From there, he was able to ease away at the front and set the fastest lap en-route to a comfortable win that moves him further clear of Ingram in the standings, despite him scoring a twelfth podium finish of the season behind.

Collard would run third for the opening half of the race, but his hopes of a podium finish were ended by a charging Jake Hill, who had started back in P9 following a penalty carried over from Knockhill.

As the race developed, Hill’s BMW came alive as he stormed through the field, picking off the cars ahead with ease to close in on Ingram going into the final laps.

Hill would try and make a move around the outside at the final corner but Ingram held on to secure the place by just 0.049s, with Hill forced to settle for third spot.

Collard would take the flag in fourth spot ahead of Colin Turkington and Aron Taylor-Smith, both of whom ran in the top six throughout the race.

Josh Cook’s Honda took seventh with Dan Rowbottom, Andrew Watson and Tom Chilton rounding out the top ten.

Adam Morgan had run in the top ten early on but would fade as the race wore on to slip back to P12, with all 25 drivers making it to the finish – albeit with Jade Edwards a lap down after an early stop.