Ash Sutton extended his lead at the top of the British Touring Car Championship after defeating Josh Cook to take the victory in race two of the weekend at Thruxton.
Sutton, driving the Laser Tools Racing Infiniti, had started the race in fifth but made the most of having to carry significantly less weight in race two of the day and quickly made his way up the standings.
The reigning champion first moved past both Rory Butcher and Jake Hill at Church after the trio went into the corner side by side in the early stages of the race and he continued his move up through the field shortly afterwards.
Next up for the Infiniti driver was Team BMW’s Tom Oliphant, with Sutton getting ahead of him at the exit of the final corner on lap four, with him then setting his sights on race leader Cook.
Over the course of the next few laps Sutton then gradually caught the BTC Racing driver and despite Cook’s best efforts, Sutton got ahead of him going into turn one on lap 11 after getting a much better run through the chicane.
With Oliphant finishing third pending an investigation for an illegal start, fourth went to Jake Hill in the MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square Ford Focus.
Behind, drama unfolded on the final lap for Tom Ingram, who had been running ahead of Butcher after finally getting the better of him in the closing laps after a race long battle, but the Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com man suffered a puncture on the apex to Church.
He did manage to finish the race, however crossed the line down in twelfth after limping over the line.
This promoted drivers including Butcher, Colin Turkington, Senna Proctor, Adam Morgan, Jason Plato, Dan Lloyd and Chris Smiley all moving up the finishing order as a result.
A tough day for Halfords Racing with Cataclean continued, with both Gordon Shedden and race one polesitter Daniel Rowbottom being forced to head to the pitlane early in the race both with mechanical problems.
Jade Edwards in another of the BTC Racing Honda’s was given a five second time penalty for starting the race from an incorrect position after she moved before the lights went out, while Jack Mitchell was also forced to head to the pitlane with a problem with his Ford Focus.
Árón Taylor-Smith failed to make the start of the race after his Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions CUPRA was slow on the formation lap and he headed for the pitlane with a driveshaft issue.
Adam Morgan will start the final race of the weekend from pole position after the reverse grid draw was made following the end of race two.
The final race of the weekend at Thruxton is set to take place this evening at 17:35.
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 1 | I |  |
Ashley SUTTON | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 20:42.975 | 1:16.450 | 5 |
| 2 | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 0.878 | 1:16.392 | 1 |
| 3 | 15 | M | |
Tom OLIPHANT | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 4.504 | 1:16.997 | 3 |
| 4 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 5.036 | 1:16.831 | 2 |
| 5 | 6 | M | |
Rory BUTCHER | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 8.059 | 1:16.832 | 4 |
| 6 | 2 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 8.452 | 1:16.824 | 12 |
| 7 | 18 | I | |
Senna PROCTOR | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 8.973 | 1:16.778 | 8 |
| 8 | 33 | I | |
Adam MORGAN | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 10.140 | 1:17.222 | 7 |
| 9 | 11 | I | |
Jason PLATO | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 10.995 | 1:17.040 | 9 |
| 10 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 11.297 | 1:17.105 | 11 |
| 11 | 22 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 11.596 | 1:17.277 | 16 |
| 12 | 80 | I | |
Tom INGRAM | Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 13.721 | 1:16.450 | 10 |
| 13 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 16.540 | 1:17.499 | 18 |
| 14 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 16.844 | 1:17.683 | 15 |
| 15 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 17.363 | 1:17.451 | 19 |
| 16 | 31 | I | |
Jack GOFF | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 18.875 | 1:17.343 | 20 |
| 17 | 3 | I | |
Tom CHILTON | Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport | BMW 330i M Sport | 16 | 20.066 | 1:17.543 | 14 |
| 18 | 48 | M | |
Ollie JACKSON | MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 22.286 | 1:17.696 | 17 |
| 19 | 4 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 24.582 | 1:17.740 | 22 |
| 20 | 62 | I | |
Rick PARFITT Jr | EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com | Hyundai i30 Fastback N | 16 | 25.105 | 1:17.592 | 25 |
| 21 | 41 | I | |
Carl BOARDLEY | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 16 | 27.640 | 1:18.114 | 24 |
| 22 | 23 | M | |
Sam SMELT | Toyota Gazoo Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 16 | 28.163 | 1:17.945 | 26 |
| 23 | 20 | 20 | |
Paul RIVETT | Racing with Wera & Photon Group | Ford Focus ST | 16 | 28.679 | 1:18.018 | 29 |
| 24 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | PHSC with BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 16 | 29.365 | 1:17.654 | 21 |
| 25 | 28 | I | |
Nicolas HAMILTON | ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading | CUPRA Leon | 16 | 46.624 | 1:18.641 | 28 |
| NC | 32 | I | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 10 | NCF | 1:17.135 | 6 |
| R | 19 | I | |
Jack MITCHELL | Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct | CUPRA Leon | 4 | DNF | 1:20.070 | 23 |
| R | 52 | I | |
Gordon SHEDDEN | Halfords Racing with Cataclean | Honda Civic Type-R | 2 | DNF | 1:29.106 | 13 |
| R | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions | CUPRA Leon | 0 | DNF | N/A | 27 |