Ash Sutton opens account with flawless victory at Donington Park

Ash Sutton claimed victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the season at a sunny and warm Donington Park, after passing NAPA Racing UK team-mate Dan Cammish exiting the first corner.

Pole-sitter Cammish made a good getaway from the lights, but going into the first corner he and Sutton were side-by-side, with Sutton ensuring Cammish had to take a tighter line into the corner.

That allowed Sutton to switchback from the outside and get a faster exit from the corner, taking the lead through the Craner Curves as Cammish slotted into second ahead of Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram.

Further back, Toyota’s Ronan Pearson was battling with Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton for fifth, but he was handed a ten-second time penalty for a false start, which would later drop him down the classification.

Cammish, one of only three drivers on the soft tyre along with Sutton and Pearson, held second for the first seven laps, before Ingram dived inside at the Old Hairpin to relieve him of the position.

Further back, One Motorsport’s Josh Cook found himself in the thick of battles with Chilton, and a lap after passing the Hyundai he was half-turned at the chicane, with his left-rear hitting the tyre stack and causing superficial body damage, although Cook was able to continue.

On lap ten, Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan pulled off the circuit with broken front-left suspension, and the safety car was called, both to retrieve the Hyundai and to reinstate the tyre stack collected by Cook.

Cammish picked up a puncture at the same time, forcing the Ford driver to dive for the pits for new soft rubber, re-joining at the back of the pack in 17^th but crucially still on the lead lap.

The safety car stayed out for five laps, with racing resuming on lap 16 for a six-lap sprint to the end – although late acceleration by Sutton caused bunching of the pack on the start-finish straight, catching out Michael Crees, who was 16^th at the time before he went off onto the grass.

Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill, who to this stage had made progress only through the demise or incidents of others, then dived inside Chilton for fifth into the Old Hairpin, as the field behind began to bunch up.

At the front, Ingram took the fight to Sutton but couldn’t find a way past, as Sutton won by a quarter of a second ahead of the Hyundai.

NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom completed the podium after a relatively quiet race, with Hill claiming fourth after Pearson’s time penalty was applied.

Chilton took fifth, ahead of Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble in sixth, the Vauxhall driver having harassed the back of Cook before getting by on the penultimate lap.

Cook took seventh in his battle-scarred Honda, ahead of the recovering Cammish in eighth, the NAPA driver benefitting from fresh soft rubber to scythe through the pack in the final laps.

Aiden Moffat was the leading WSR BMW driver in ninth, although Charles Rainford had been the top BMW until he went off the circuit at Coppice from ninth on lap 16, although he was able to continue.

Restart Racing’s Chris smiley completed the top ten when WSR’s Daryl DeLeon dropped six places on the last lap.

Un-Limited Motorsport’s Dexter Patterson was the leading CUPRA in 11^th, ahead of Restart’s Daniel Lloyd in 12^th, whilst Toyota’s Pearson was 13^th after his penalty.

Pearson was nonetheless still the top Toyota, after Árón Taylor-Smith retired with an engine misfire, James Dorlin ended the race in the Redgate gravel and Gordon Shedden had to pit due to bodywork damage and finished in 19^th a lap down.

Race two is scheduled to get underway at 14:35 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	116			Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	27:11.648	1:08.011	2
2	80			Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	21	0.267	1:08.797	3
3	32			Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	4.481	1:08.859	4
4	1			Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	21	6.411	1:08.955	8
5	3			Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	21	7.917	1:09.023	6
6	88			Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	21	11.481	1:09.532	10
7	66			Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	21	12.103	1:08.917	7
8	27			Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	15.316	1:08.044	1
9	16			Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	15.321	1:09.868	20
10	22			Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	21	15.391	1:09.686	15
11	17			Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	21	15.878	1:09.949	23
12	123			Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	21	16.715	1:10.252	11
13	14			Ronan PEARSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	16.994	1:08.891	5
14	93			Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	21	17.504	1:09.920	22
15	77			Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	21	19.746	1:10.416	14
16	2			Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	19.790	1:09.768	18
17	99			Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	21	21.115	1:09.576	12
18	777			Michael CREES	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	20	+ 1 LAP	1:10.333	17
19	52			Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	20	+ 1 LAP	1:09.513	13
20	12			Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	20	+ 1 LAP	1:10.275	19
21	28			Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	20	+ 1 LAP	1:11.342	24
R	132			James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	17	DNF	1:09.997	16
R	40			Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	DNF	1:09.653	9
R	33			Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	9	DNF	1:09.866	21