Rory Butcher scored Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s first win of the season in race three of the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park after Dan Lloyd spun out from the lead on the last lap.
Butcher started the race in fifth and made a move on the opening lap to pass Team BMW’s Adam Morgan. The Corolla driver then passed Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Chilton and Power Maxed Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith within half a lap, completing both moves around the outside of the Craner Curves.
Lloyd had lead from the moment the lights went out before coming under pressure from Butcher after a safety car stint. The safety car was out due to debris on track from MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill earlier striking a tyre stack.
Lloyd then cruelly suffered from a driveshaft failure on the exit of McLeans, half a lap from the finish, pitching him into the gracvel and out of the race after relentless pressure from Butcher.
Taylor-Smith finished in second, scoring his first outright podium of the season and his first in seven years. This has been a target that the Irishman and the team had been vocal about before Knockhill.
Morgan completed the podium after Lloyd had spun out, with the result bringing home the Team BMW driver’s fourth overall podium of the season. The podium was spread by less than a second at the chequered flag.
Ricky Collard jumped up from seventh on the grid to make it two Toyota’s in the top four. Along with teammate George Gamble finishing 13th, Speedworks Motorsport left Donington with all three cars in the points. Collard headed a tight group with five cars all tucked in close behind.
NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton put together a championship-worthy performance taking his time coming through the field. After starting in 11th the championship leader made up six positions to leave the weekend extending his lead by three points.
Sutton had lost out to title rival Tom Ingram on the second lap when the Hyundai driver dived through at the Old Hairpin, but when NAPA’s Daniel Rowbottom suffered a front-left puncutre going on to lap 13, having clipped the tyre stack a lap earlier, Ingram found himself choosing the wrong line and dropped two places.
BMW’s Colin Turkington slotted in just behind Sutton to come home in sixth place, 0.717 seconds behind Sutton. Ingram took seventh, the race-two winner having started from 12th. After finishing behind Sutton again, the championship gap has now swung against Ingram, with the points deficit up to 42 points.
Hill took eighth after earlier clipping the tyre stack at the Fogarty Esses. The tyres were knocked by Taylor-Smith in front until it was too much of an obstacle for the MB Motorsport driver to avoid. This resulted in Hill falling back towards the end finishing 2.232 seconds behind Ingram.
Sam Osborne came home in ninth place to make it two NAPA Racing UK Ford’s inside the top ten. The result meant that Osborne took a joint victory across the weekend with PMR’s Andrew Watson for the Jack Sears Trophy.
Rounding out the top ten was Stephen Jelley, meaning that all four BMWs finished race three inside the top ten. Jelley had started in 13th again gaining positions through the stricken cars ahead.
Chilton had crossed the finish line in eighth, but the Hyundai driver was given a five-second time penalty for having been out of position at the start, dropping him to 12th behind PMR’s Watson.
Cook had run in eighth early on but after dropping out of the top ten the One Motorsport driver retired to the pits with an issue on his Honda.
Sutton now leads the drivers’ standings with 362 points ahead of Ingram (320) and Hill (300).
Race results
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP | GD |
| 1 | 6 | M |  |
Rory BUTCHER | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 24:43.261 | 1:34.964 | 5 |
| 2 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 0.357 | 1:34.870 | 3 |
| 3 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 0.637 | 1:34.910 | 4 |
| 4 | 37 | M | |
Ricky COLLARD | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 1.750 | 1:34.912 | 7 |
| 5 | 116 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 2.621 | 1:34.939 | 11 |
| 6 | 4 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 3.338 | 1:34.857 | 9 |
| 7 | 1 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 4.004 | 1:34.928 | 12 |
| 8 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 6.236 | 1:34.808 | 10 |
| 9 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 7.496 | 1:35.143 | 15 |
| 10 | 12 | M | |
Stephen JELLEY | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 7.801 | 1:34.808 | 13 |
| 11 | 11 | I | |
Andrew WATSON | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 10.030 | 1:35.508 | 16 |
| 12 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 11.031 | 1:35.069 | 2 |
| 13 | 42 | M | |
George GAMBLE | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 11.096 | 1:35.253 | 22 |
| 14 | 17 | I | |
Dexter PATTERSON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 11.769 | 1:35.276 | 18 |
| 15 | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 12.055 | 1:34.495 | 14 |
| 16 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | CarStore Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 13.439 | 1:35.599 | 17 |
| 17 | 777 | I | |
Michael CREES | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 15.125 | 1:35.702 | 19 |
| 18 | 16 | I | |
Aiden MOFFAT | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 19.195 | 1:35.389 | 23 |
| 19 | 99 | I | |
Jade EDWARDS | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 15 | 19.197 | 1:35.853 | 21 |
| 20 | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 20.983 | 1:36.128 | 20 |
| 21 | 123 | I | |
Daniel LLOYD | Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1 Lap | 1:34.949 | 1 |
| 22 | 96 | I | |
Jack BUTEL | Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown | CUPRA Leon | 14 | 1 Lap | 1:35.684 | 25 |
| 23 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 14 | 1 Lap | 1:34.901 | 6 |
| R | 66 | I | |
Josh COOK | One Motorsport with Starline Racing | Honda Civic Type-R | 5 | DNF | 1:36.105 | 8 |
| R | 18 | I |  |
Daryl DELEON | Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD. | CUPRA Leon | 3 | DNF | 1:36.972 | 24 |