BTCC: Sutton vs Ingram- Intense fight at Donington Park

The eighth BTCC weekend of the year would see the battle between Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram intensify with a stellar battle and could be a defining weekend in the championship.

Saturday’s qualifying session would see the third occasion in a row that Sutton would be knocked out of the second part of qualifying with championship rival Ingram advancing. Sutton would once again qualify tenth while Ingram would manage to claim second in the final part of qualifying losing out pole to teammate Tom Chilton.

The first race of the day would see Ingram attack his teammate early on, trying to attack around the outside of Chilton at Redgate but Chilton would manage to defend on the run down to the old hairpin. Sutton meanwhile would manage to make up four places on the opening lap moving to sixth place with and excellent start. Sutton would next have his two teammates of Dan Cammish and Dan Rowbottom in front of him. Sutton would make his way up the field making a move passed Cammish at the Melbourne Hairpin but fell back behind Cammish at the final corner. He would make a dive at Redgate on lap five to jump into fifth position. Ingram would be allowed through by Chilton to go and claim the lead a lap point before letting Chilton back by for the lead once more.

Sutton would go after Chris Smiley next, applying pressure on the Restart Racing Hyundai as the Independents race leader would be desperately trying to keep fourth. Sutton would make a dive into McLean’s on lap eight to get passed Smiley for fourth as he managed to clear Smiley by the exit of the corner. By the end of the race, Ingram would come home second behind Chilton while Sutton would settle for fourth place but would have the option of using the medium tyre in the second race in comparison to the harder tyres mandated for the top three.

The second race of the day would turn into a very chaotic race for the grid and in particular our two championship contenders. Ingram, on the hard tyre, would sit behind his teammate in second, defending from Sutton, who had jumped past Rowbottom off the line to claim third, as they went into Redgate. Ingram would try to hold up Sutton as much as he can on the run down to the old hairpin, maintaining a harsh defense against his rival giving his teammate a gap. Ingram would continue his defense on the run between McLean’s and the Melbourne Hairpin before a Safety Car was deployed due to an incident between Sam Osborne, Senna Proctor and Aiden Moffat.

The restart would be a chaotic one on lap five as Ingram would manage to get alongside his teammate into Redgate before contact between the NAPA cars behind them send Sutton spinning into Chilton and tagging Ingram in the process. While Ingram managed to hold the lead, Sutton and Chilton were sent down the order before further contact with Árón Taylor-Smith at the old hairpin put him down to fifthteenth place. Back at the front, Ingram would have to defend from Cammish as the medium running NAPA kept the hard compound running Hyundai under pressure. Cammish would try to go passed Ingram at Coppice, off putting Ingram on the exit to take the lead on the run down to the chicane. Ingram carried on fighting down to the Melbourne Hairpin but Cammish managed to maintain the lead.

Sutton would begin his recovery drive to get up the field, moving from fifteenth to twelfth not long after the incident and was aiming to get back in the top ten. Adam Morgan would find his way passed Ingram into the Melbourne hairpin to take second place as the championship leader looked to manage the race. Sutton would make his way passed Chilton as he started to drop down the order on lap seven. The following lap, Taylor-Smith would pass Sutton on lap eight as the pace of the Ford was not as strong due to damage and was struggling to make the progress he normally would. Soon, Sutton would regain eleventh place after a spin from Charles Rainford on the exit of the final corner which was not helped by a bit of contact with the Toyota in front.

Soon the rain would hit, and it would hit hard at McLean’s as a number of drivers went off the road, including the race leaders. While Cammish and Morgan would gather it up quickly, Ingram would drop a place to Gordon Shedden and Chris Smiley who managed to stay on track while Sutton claimed a couple of places by staying on the road as well. The race would end under Safety Car leaving Ingram to finish fifth and Sutton to finish eighth. However, Smiley would be disqualified from the race after post-race technical inspection moving Ingram to fourth and Sutton into eighth and crucially for the NAPA, it meant he would start on pole position for race three after the reverse grid draw while Ingram would start in fifth.

Sutton would start well while the rest of the field squabble behind. Ingram managed to get alongside Daryl DeLeon off of the exit of the first corner before going after the two Toyota drivers. Ingram would manage to get the run on the exit on of Coppice on Taylor-Smith pulling alongside into the chicane to take third place. Ingram would then pull alongside the lead Toyota into the Melbourne hairpin, but Josh Cook would defend hard to maintain the position temporarily through towards the end of the lap. Ingram would seize the opportunity at Redgate though after a mistake from Cook allowed the Hyundai to dive up the inside and take second place.

Ingram’s next target was his championship rival, Ash Sutton. On lap three Ingram would mount an attack through McLeans and into Coppice. Getting the better exit, the Hyundai pulls to the outside into the chicane, but Sutton defends the inside. Ingram would try again to pull alongside into the Melbourne hairpin, but Sutton would give Ingram little to no room on the exit maintain the lead by the end of the lap. Ingram would keep the pressure on throughout the following lap before using the run up to McLean’s to force Sutton to change his line and so he can get the better run through McLean’s and Coppice to pull further alongside for the run into the chicane. Ingram would keep Sutton off-line to get the better run out of the exit to take the inside this time into the Melbourne hairpin. However, Sutton would make the cutback into the final corner to stay alongside before doing the same again at the final corner and using his surplus boost in comparison to keep the lead by the end of the lap. They would lean on each other going into the first corner, Sutton would try to round off the corner but to no avail as Ingram uses his tyre advantage to take the lead at the exit and on the run through to the old hairpin. Ingram would begin to pull a margin over the next few laps over Sutton to cement his lead.

A Safety Car would be deployed later on in the race due to Nick Halstead going off the road with an oil leak meaning the field would be bunched back together for the final couple of laps. At the restart, Sutton would try to make a move through the exit of Redgate, but Ingram would fend him off through the next few corners. However, Sutton would mount the pressure on the restart lap, but Ingram would not be forced into a mistake. Ingram would maintain the lead and take victory at the end of the day ahead of Sutton who finished second with a very good drive and battle between both drivers.

At the end of the weekend, the top five stood like this:

1^st Ingram: 377

2^nd Sutton: 345 (-32)

3^rd Cammish: 264 (-113)

4^th Rowbottom: 248 (-129)

5^th Hill: 225 (-152)