BTCC: Sutton vs Ingram- Clash at Knockhill

The seventh round of the BTCC season went north of the border to the Scottish circuit of Knockhill as the next chapter in the Sutton vs Ingram tale was written.

Both drivers would advance through the first part of qualifying but for a second week in a row, Ash Sutton would be eliminated from the second round of qualifying, qualifying 10^th on the grid for race one after going off the circuit on two wheels almost losing the car. Tom Ingram would manage to advance to the final phase of qualifying but was unable to break into the top three positions after BMW locked out the top three positions by a solid margin, meaning the championship leader had to settle for fourth.

The start of the race would see Ingram manage to maintain position ahead of the rest of the field while the BMW’s maintained the lead off the start while Sutton would make up the place against Chris Smiley to move to ninth place. The next person Sutton would need to pass was Árón Taylor-Smith as the Toyota would need to defend against the championship contender. Meanwhile, Ingram would allow his teammate Senna Proctor, who was on the soft compound of tyres, to pass him and go after the three BMW’s out front. Lap ten would be the opportunity for Sutton to make a move on Taylor-Smith to move up to eighth place and with loads of free air to pull away.

Lap sixteen would see Ingram manage to pass Daryl DeLeon as grass in his radiator would slow his car as the temperature would go up meaning Ingram would sit in fourth place. A late race Safety Car would be deployed after contact between race leader Jake Hill, and the lapped car of Nick Halstead forced the PMR Cupra to roll into the gravel. The race would get back underway with three laps to go with Sutton on to move already making a place passed the struggling BMW of DeLeon to move to seventh place and start attacking Aiden Moffat. He would try to find a way by at every possible opportunity, trying switchback and late braking manoeuvres but to no avail. At the line, Proctor would allow Ingram pass for third place so he does not have to start on the medium tyre and since Ingram used race one as his medium tyre race, both drivers could run soft tyres in race two. Sutton would come home to finish in seventh increasing Ingram’s advantage by a couple of points.

Race two would see Ingram use the soft tyres to get passed Charles Rainford around the outside at the final corner on the opening lap before looking to try and overtake Jake Hill the next lap in the same place, but Hill would defend hard against Ingram managing to maintain the lead for the time being. Ingram would make a massive dive up the inside at Clark’s to go side by side on the run to the final corner before taking the lead. Meanwhile, further back Sutton would initially drop a position in the opening couple of laps. On lap five, Sutton would make a bit of progress moving passed DeLeon to get back to seventh.

Sutton would mount an attack on Rainford to pass the BMW at the final corner to move up to sixth on lap seven before starting to pressure Moffat for a top five place. He would make the move into turn three passing him on the exit of McIntyre's. He would set his sights on a podium place with Proctor and Hill in front, initially passing the BMW on the exit of the hairpin after Proctor’s dive and pass at the hairpin cost Hill the run onto the main straight. Sutton would start to try and overtake Proctor at the end of lap 14 taking the outside line but Proctor defended well enough to maintain position. He would try again using switchback after switchback to offput Proctor’s line before taking the run out of McIntyre's to jump ahead through the chicane. Ingram would come home with a dominant drive to take the victory. Meanwhile, Dan Cammish would move aside for his NAPA teammate to allow Sutton to come home second and minimise the deficit in this race to Ingram.

The reverse grid draw would reverse the top six from race two meaning Ingram would start in sixth and Sutton would start in fifth in what was set to be a titanic showdown between the pair. The start of the race would see the pair remain together through the opening lap as Proctor tries to help Ingram find a way by, but Sutton defends well. Ingram would also come under pressure from Moffat but the BMW was covered off into turn one on the second lap. Lap three would make a major dive up the inside into Clark but Sutton managed to round off the corner for the Hyundai to maintain the position. Ingram would keep pressure on Sutton throughout the next lap trying to repeat a move at Clark again as Sutton defended to the inside. He maintained the place but neither driver was giving an inch.

Lap six would be the next attack but Ingram on Sutton as he tries a move off the exit of Clark as he uses the run into the final corner as Sutton defends hard taking the inside line managing to keep Ingram behind. Sutton’s car placement on defense made it difficult for the Hyundai to find any opportunity behind. Ingram with his teammate, Tom Chilton, behind him allowed him to have to worry less about defending and full focus on attacking Sutton. Lap eleven would be Ingram’s next attempt at overtaking Sutton, trying to make a dive up the inside into the final corner with a late lunge but Sutton using the better exit to keep ahead.

The pair would soon catch DeLeon and Proctor in the battle for third place but would also begin to be chased by Dan Rowbottom who was trying to pass Chilton in order to help Sutton. Sutton would attempt to make a move into the final corner on lap thirteen on DeLeon but would have to wait another couple of laps. Rowbottom by lap fifthteen would get passed Chilton and start putting a lot of pressure on Ingram in order to try to get by. He wouldn’t waste a moment almost pushing Ingram in the braking zone of the final corner before getting the exit to pull alongside on the main straight. Ingram would defend allowing Chilton to pull alongside and start attacking Rowbottom to get back passed for seventh. Sutton would use the bit of breathing space between him and his championship rival to send it passed DeLeon to move to fourth place and put a car between him and Ingram. Soon Ingram would make his way passed DeLeon at the same time that Sutton passed Proctor. Proctor would allow his teammate by to move into fourth behind Sutton in the final podium spot.

Sutton and Ingram would pull a bit of a gap to the cars behind as the Team Vertu Hyundai starts to pressure his championship rival once more on lap nineteen. However, Ingram would be unable to do anything and a last minute switch between Sutton and Cammish for second as they crossed the line would initially seal him an extra couple of points but with the yellow flag happening under yellow flag conditions Sutton would be demoted back down to third ahead of Ingram in fourth.

After the seventh weekend of the season, the standings looked like this:

1^st Ingram: 323

2^nd Sutton: 306 (-17)

3^rd Cammish: 228 (-95)

4^th Rowbottom: 214 (-109)

5^th Hill: 197 (-153)