Ash Sutton closes in on title race with race two win as Tom Ingram retires

Ash Sutton claimed his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the season in race two at Donington Park, as erstwhile points leader Tom Ingram retired from the race with an overheating engine.

Prior to the race a light rain shower threatened to play havoc with tyre choices, but in the end, after man drove to the grid with wet tyres on, only Nick Halstead started the race with wet tread on their car.

Race one winner Colin Turkington started from pole and lead into the first corner, as behind him Ingram dived inside Josh Cook to take third from the Speedworks driver.

Cook’s Toyota was then tagged by the BMW of Adam Morgan exiting the corner, which in turn knocked Cook into the Ford of Dan Cammish, who was pushed off onto the infield grass, with all drivers thankfully able to continue.

Exiting the Old Hairpin, Sutton got better traction and powered past the BMW of Turkington heading through Schwantz curve to claim the lead.

The leading trio stayed the same until lap five, when Ingram got a run on Turkington exiting the Fogarty Esses and used his hybrid to power past the BMW before the Melbourne hairpin.

However, in the process, Ingram lightly bumped into the back of Sutton’s car under braking, and this appeared to set in motion the chain of events which would spell the end of Ingram’s race.

Despite seemingly lapping fine for several circulations, Ingram lost power on lap ten, with Turkington breezing by the Hyundai.

After losing a handful more places, Ingram peeled into the pits at the end of lap 11 and straight into the garage, out of the race with an overheating engine.

That left Sutton to claim a second win of 2024 by just over a second from Turkington, with Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill once again completing the podium.

Cook also replicated his race one result by taking fourth, whilst BMW’s Adam Morgan went a place better than in the morning by taking fifth.

NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom fought through the field to sixth, having gained eight places after staging another recovery drive following his race one puncture.

Toyota’s Rob Huff was ahead of Morgan and Rowbottom for much of the race, but lost out to both on lap 11 and took seventh, ahead of Power Maxed Racing duo Árón Taylor-Smith and Mikey Doble.

NAPA’s Sam Osborne once again completed the top ten, marking the first time this season he has had two top ten results.

Cammish recovered to 11^th after his first lap off, ahead of EXCELR8’s Tom Chilton, who had earlier passed both Cammish and team-mate Dan Zelos into the first corner, before losing out to the latter on an eventful lap 11.

Zelos was again in the points in 13^th, with Toyota’s Andrew Watson in 14^th after his Corolla was hastily repaired between races.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley ran in ninth in the early stages, but the CUPRA driver slipped to 15^th by the chequered flag.

The result means Hill has now assumed the championship lead with 305 points, ahead of Sutton (296), Ingram (289), Turkington (264), Cook (249) and Cammish (249).

The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day will see the top 11 drivers inverted, handing pole position to Cammish, ahead of Osborne etc.

Race three is scheduled to get underway at 17:25 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	14	22:10.948	1:34.159	2
2	20	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	14	1.712	1:34.026	1
3	24	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	14	5.121	1:34.473	3
4	66	M		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	5.540	1:34.235	4
5	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	14	11.242	1:34.386	6
6	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	14	13.741	1:34.399	14
7	12	M		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	15.024	1:34.711	7
8	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	14	16.376	1:34.709	9
9	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	14	18.034	1:34.547	15
10	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	14	25.009	1:35.218	10
11	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	14	27.839	1:35.349	8
12	3	M		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	14	28.866	1:34.878	16
13	45	M		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	14	30.482	1:35.352	12
14	11	M		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	33.306	1:35.844	20
15	222	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	14	33.567	1:35.364	13
16	29	I		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	14	37.858	1:35.750	18
17	18	I		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	13	+ 1 LAP	1:35.511	17
18	22	M		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	13	+ 1 LAP	1:36.573	19
R	80	M		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	11	DNF	1:34.133	5
R	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	3	DNF	1:36.636	11