Ash Sutton doubles up in Donington race two

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton continued his strong start to the British Touring Car Championship with victory in race two at Donington Park, once again finishing ahead of Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram.

Sutton and Ingram made equal starts when the lights went out, whilst the Laser Tools Racing BMW of Jake Hill got the jump on Daniel Rowbottom’s NAPA Ford to assume third.

Further back One Motorsport’s Josh Cook got by Mikey Doble for fifth, although the Power Maxed Racing driver was quickly handed a drive-through penalty for mechanics working on his car too long on he grid after an issue getting it fired up, with Doble serving the penalty on the second lap.

Hill had looked racey in the opening laps, but it was Cook who muscled into third at the Old Hairpin on the fourth lap, as the top seven cars bunched together early on.

Cook was the leading driver running the soft tyre, but on lap 12 he picked up a front-left puncture and went off at McLeans, being forced to pit for new rubber and going a lap down.

The same lap saw WSR’s Charles Rainford, also on softs, pick up a left-rear puncture which ended his race, and thereafter Hill also appeared to back off from the leading duo.

Dan Cammish, who had made steady progress early on including being let through by team-mate Rowbottom, was soon onto the back of Hill, and on the penultimate lap he squeezed into third at Coppice.

By now, the leading duo were over six seconds ahead of the rest, and Sutton scored his 44^th career BTCC win by over a second from Ingram, who had spent the race following his rival without being able to get close enough to challenge for a pass.

Cammish was third, with Hill in fourth and Rowbottom taking fifth.

Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton took sixth ahead of WSR’s Aiden Moffat in seventh, who enjoyed close battles with team-mate Daryl DeLeon in the race, although the latter dropped back to 12^th by the finish.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley was the leading Independent driver in eighth, whilst the top ten was completed by Un-Limited Motorsport’s Dexter Patterson and Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan.

Four-time champion Gordon Shedden was the best of the Toyota drivers in 11^th, whilst the woes continued for Árón Taylor-Smith who retired again after 13 laps.

Cook rejoined after his puncture, but was only 20^th after falling a lap behind.

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

Race results

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	20:59.671	1:09.412	1
2	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	1.052	1:09.370	2
3	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	7.460	1:09.479	8
4	1	M		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	18	8.293	1:09.706	4
5	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	18	10.150	1:09.728	3
6	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	10.666	1:09.003	7
7	16	M		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	15.079	1:09.855	9
8	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	16.636	1:09.878	10
9	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	17.709	1:09.991	11
10	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	20.872	1:09.795	24
11	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	22.117	1:09.686	19
12	2	M		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	18	22.635	1:09.398	15
13	93	I		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	18	22.875	1:09.572	14
14	132	M		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	26.220	1:10.053	22
15	12	I		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	18	28.661	1:09.783	20
16	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	18	28.782	1:09.481	5
17	777	M		Michael CREES	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	18	29.924	1:10.195	18
18	14	M		Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	33.683	1:09.703	13
19	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	18	41.947	1:10.639	21
20	66	I		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	17	+ 1 LAP	1:09.395	6
R	40	M		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	DNF	1:10.095	23
R	99	M		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	11	DNF	1:09.963	17
R	123	I		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	5	DNF	1:09.666	12
NS	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	–	DNS	N/A	16