Ash Sutton fought back to overturn a fast-starting Tom Ingram and win the second British Touring Car Championship race at Croft.
Sutton’s ballast-laden Subaru Levorg GT made a level start with team-mate Jason Plato, but both were usurped on the inside line into Clervaux by Ingram’s Toyota Avensis.
A bold lunge by Sutton at the Hairpin on the second lap handed him back top spot, and from there he was never headed as he eased away to register an 4.2 second margin at the chequered flag.
Disaster struck Plato and championship contender Adam Morgan after being awarded a drive-through penalty for making a false start.
The double champion served his penalty immediately, with his demise bringing the works BMW 1-series of Colin Turkington into the mix.
Turkington looked arguably the fastest of the leading trio, but stoic defending from Ingram denied the Northern Irishman and the duo rounded out the podium in that order.
Sam Tordoff claimed fourth once again the leading Motorbase Ford Focus RS ahead of Andrew Jordan, who dispatched the third WSR-run BMW of Rob Collard with a brave move into Tower.
A spin for Collard at Hawthorn then curtailed his charge, leaving Tom Chilton to claim sixth.
Matt Neal continued Team Dynamics’ incremental gains over the course of the weekend with seventh ahead of Senna Proctor, whose Power Maxed Racing team-mate Josh Cook was forced to retire after a dramatic trip off-circuit and into the adjacent wheat field at Tower.
Dan Lloyd kept BTC Norlin Racing at the sharp end with ninth and could be a dark horse for the partially reversed third race, with the AmD-run MG of Rory Butcher rounding out the top ten.
Dan Cammish took his first points of the weekend in 11th after a spirited battle with Chris Smiley behind.
Eurotech Racing’s Brett Smith and Ciceley Motorsport’s Tom Oliphant scored their first points of the day, with Plato and the recovering Alfa Romeo Giulietta of Rob Austin rounding out the points scorers.
The final race of the weekend at Croft gets underway at 17:25 BST.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 | M | Ashley SUTTON |  |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 21:56.436 | 1:26.429 | 1 |
| 2 | 80 | Tom INGRAM | |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 15 | 4.284 | 1:26.732 | 3 | |
| 3 | 2 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 4.604 | 1:26.066 | 5 |
| 4 | 600 | Sam TORDOFF | |
Team GardX Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 5.147 | 1:26.541 | 4 | |
| 5 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 6.573 | 1:26.686 | 10 |
| 6 | 3 | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 11.754 | 1:26.459 | 15 | |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 13.653 | 1:27.061 | 9 |
| 8 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 14.112 | 1:26.884 | 11 |
| 9 | 26 | Daniel LLOYD | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 14.387 | 1:27.111 | 8 | |
| 10 | 6 | Rory BUTCHER | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 15 | 21.701 | 1:26.676 | 13 | |
| 11 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 22.310 | 1:26.689 | 19 |
| 12 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 23.238 | 1:26.673 | 17 | |
| 13 | 15 | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 26.658 | 1:26.704 | 16 | |
| 14 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 15 | 27.090 | 1:26.758 | 2 |
| 15 | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo Giulietta | 15 | 27.391 | 1:26.515 | 32 | |
| 16 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 31.605 | 1:27.221 | 27 | |
| 17 | 303 | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 37.039 | 1:27.199 | 22 | |
| 18 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 40.730 | 1:27.163 | 21 | |
| 19 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
MAC Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 41.010 | 1:26.687 | 29 | |
| 20 | 60 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 41.025 | 1:28.482 | 31 | |
| 21 | 39 | Brett SMITH | |
WIX Racing with Eurotech | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | 41.341 | 1:27.140 | 28 | |
| 22 | 21 | Mike BUSHELL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 43.776 | 1:26.750 | 20 | |
| 23 | 20 | James COLE | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 15 | 44.404 | 1:26.878 | 12 | |
| 24 | 23 | Sam SMELT | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 44.943 | 1:28.720 | 25 | |
| 25 | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmD with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 15 | 50.843 | 1:27.191 | 14 | |
| 26 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 53.167 | 1:27.434 | 30 | |
| 27 | 19 | Bobby THOMPSON | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 14 | 1 Lap | 1:27.948 | 24 | |
| 28 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 13 | 2 Laps | 1:26.713 | 6 |
| R | 28 | Josh PRICE | |
Autoglym Academy Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 11 | DNF | 1:27.577 | 18 | |
| R | 44 | Michael CAINE | |
Team HARD. with Trade Price Cars | Volkswagen CC | 8 | DNF | 1:28.446 | 23 | |
| R | 12 | Tom BOARDMAN | |
AmD with AutoAid / RCIB Insurance Racing | MG 6 | 6 | DNF | 1:27.331 | 26 | |
| R | 66 | M | Josh COOK | |
Power Maxed TAG Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 5 | DNF | 1:29.940 | 7 |