BTCC: Sutton extends championship lead to rivals in controlled weekend at Brands Hatch

The four-time BTCC Champion Ash Sutton done everything he needed last weekend at Brands Hatch to extend his championship lead; can he continue it into Snetterton?

After an excellent opening weekend of the season for Ash Sutton with two wins and a second place at Donington Park, he left the weekend with an eighteen-point championship lead over the BMW of Charles Rainford despite retiring from the inaugural qualifying race. He entered the Brands Hatch weekend on the Indy circuit with the least amount of TOCA Turbo Boost in comparison to some of his rivals who at Donington did not have luck on their side.

He would qualify third in his group despite having the minimum amount of TOCA Turbo Boost meaning he would start fifth on the grid for the Qualifying Race. An excellent start to the race for the NAPA driver would see him pass the Hyundai of Ricky Collard and teammate Dan Cammish before entering Paddock Hill Bend.

He would quickly try and make another move on Daryl De Leon for second into Druids but could not quite get the move done until De Leon attempted a pass on pole sitter Tom Ingram into Graham Hill Bend where he locked the front left and forced Ingram wide. This gave Sutton the opportunity to get alongside De Leon and use his better exit to be in the lead by the end of Cooper Straight.

From this point, he just needed to defend from De Leon and despite the BMW’s best efforts he was unable to challenge the Ford meaning Sutton took victory in the Race To Pole in very unlikely circumstances.

Race One would be more difficult for the four-time champion with rain starting to hit the circuit. Despite leading early, on he would be bunched back up with he field after a Safety Car for Adam Morgan’s Mercedes.

The race would get back underway with Collard causing Sutton some troubles early on, taking the lead temporarily on lap twelve on the run into Paddock Hill Bend before a slide a few corners later would allow Sutton back through. Despite keeping with Sutton for a few more laps, Collard would eventually drop away after pressure from Cammish and Ingram. This meant that Sutton was able to cruise to victory to take his third win in a row and third win in the first four races this season.

The second race of the day would be a similar story at the start for Sutton as it was in race one. He would get another amazing start meaning his lead was uncontested for the first couple of corners before a Safety Car was deployed for teammate Lewis Selby who was in the barriers at Druids.

The race would go green again and would once again come under pressure from Collard before making a mistake on lap eight into Graham Hill Bend allowing Collard and Ingram to make it briefly three wide down the Cooper Straight. While Ingram had to back out, Collard kept on going to take the lead away from Sutton into Surtees. Sutton would continue to remain under pressure from Ingram and Rainford before both his and the BMW’s race would almost end in calamity down the Brabham straight on as Rainford got on the grass trying to make an overtake almost spinning out.

Sutton would eventually be caught by a charging Toyota of Árón Taylor-Smith who seems to be much better set up for these sort of conditions. Sutton would lose the position on lap fifthteen dropping him to third and would have to defend against Josh Cook for the following few laps before Cook went off the road at Paddock Hill Bend. Sutton would eventually catch back up to Collard and take second place back at Clearways before pulling away over the next few laps before a red flag for multiple drivers being off the road at Druids ended the race early meaning yet another top two finish for Sutton.

The final race of the day would see Sutton start from seventh place due to the reverse grid draw but it would not seem to have a big effect for him by the exit of Paddock Hill Bend as he would get a tremendous start and taking the outside line into first corner would swoop around the outside of almost everyone leaving him putting his car just alongside James Dorlin into Druids. Sutton would be unable to take the position having to concede a few corners later before Ingram would make a move at Clark Curve to take second away from him. He would try to make a move back on both Ingram and Dorlin but to no avail

Sutton would be stuck behind Dorlin for a couple of laps fighting Mikey Doble and the Hyundai for second place. Doble would pass both of them before Sutton eventually got by at Paddock Hill Bend on lap ten and set off after Doble who had already built a small margin.

Sutton would manage to get passed Doble on lap twenty into Druids after putting Doble off-line at the previous corner. Sutton would be unable to catch Ingram and would have to settle for second by race’s end but had more than doubled his advantage over the chasing pack in the standings by the end of the race weekend.

Heading into Snetterton, can Sutton extend it further or will someone behind close the gap to him and mount a championship challenge throughout the rest of the season.