Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher has received a time penalty for contact with Ash Sutton in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Croft, promoting the latter to fourth position and back into the standings lead.
As Sutton battled with reigning champion Colin Turkington for third on the opening lap of race one, Butcher’s Ford Focus ST tagged the Infiniti as the Scot was completing a move on Tom Oliphant’s BMW.
The contact sent Sutton into a complete spin, but the 2017 champion was able to recover into the top five positions, initially putting him level on 248 points with Turkington post-race.
With the stewards then adding two seconds added to Butcher’s overall race time, the penalty promotes Sutton into fourth position as the pair switch in terms of results, with Sutton regaining the championship lead by two points from Turkington.
The second British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Croft is scheduled to get underway at 14:29 BST.
Revised race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 66 | I | Josh COOK |  |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 20:58.839 | 1:22.464 | 1 |
| 2 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 0.653 | 1:22.561 | 2 |
| 3 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 3.573 | 1:22.565 | 3 |
| 4 | 116 | I | Ashley SUTTON | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 10.348 | 1:22.669 | 6 |
| 5 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 10.592 | 1:23.047 | 10 |
| 6 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 13.245 | 1:23.192 | 7 |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 13.436 | 1:23.109 | 8 |
| 8 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 15 | 16.909 | 1:23.353 | 5 |
| 9 | 32 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 15 | 17.248 | 1:23.229 | 12 |
| 10 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 17.663 | 1:23.143 | 14 |
| 11 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 15 | 17.89 | 1:23.035 | 4 |
| 12 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 21.148 | 1:23.731 | 13 |
| 13 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 15 | 21.553 | 1:22.781 | 24 |
| 14 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 23.441 | 1:23.542 | 11 |
| 15 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 23.748 | 1:23.443 | 16 |
| 16 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 15 | 25.347 | 1:23.298 | 15 |
| 17 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 27.187 | 1:23.815 | 18 |
| 18 | 18 | I | Senna PROCTOR | |
Excelr8 Motorsport | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 15 | 27.663 | 1:23.837 | 25 |
| 19 | 21 | I | Mike BUSHELL | |
RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 15 | 28.22 | 1:23.900 | 20 |
| 20 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
Team HARD. | BMW 125i M Sport | 15 | 40.219 | 1:23.452 | 19 |
| 21 | 44 | I | Andy NEATE | |
Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 55.454 | 1:24.860 | 21 |
| 22 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 14 | 1 Lap | 1:23.144 | 9 |
| R | 32 | I | Jack BUTEL | |
Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 11 | DNF | 1:24.081 | 22 |
| R | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Team HARD. | Volkswagen CC | 6 | DNF | 1:27.371 | 23 |
| R | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Honda Civic Type-R | 4 | DNF | 1:27.513 | 17 |
| NS | 29 | I | Jac CONSTABLE | |
Power Maxed Car Care Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 0 | DNS | N/A | – |
