BTCC: Sutton vs Ingram- Turning the tide at Croft

The Croft round of the Sutton vs Ingram title fight would see the pair continue their closely fought season long battle for the title with yet another twist in the tale.

The first half the season would see the pair be separated by almost nothing with only ten points between them heading into the qualifying session at Croft. While both drivers would advance through to the second part of qualifying, Ash Sutton would be shockingly eliminated from the second part only qualifying eleventh on the grid. This left the championship leader with a lot of work to do especially once the ‘Quick Six’ had been completed as Tom Ingram would take pole position and chip a crucial point away from his lead.

Race one would see Ingram defending from Dan Cammish at the start as Sutton’s NAPA teammate tries to take the lead away from him. Ingram would begin to pull a small advantage over the opening lap while further back, Sutton, on the hard compound of tyre, would make a position off the opening few turns passing Árón Taylor-Smith. Sutton would continue to make progress on the opening lap, passing Dan Lloyd at the penultimate corner before overtaking Charles Rainford who was fighting with Daryl DeLeon at the final corner. This boosted Sutton to eighth place in his quest to minimise the damage in his lead for this race.

Ingram would continue to lead with Cammish just behind before as they pull a two and a half second gap by the end of lap two. Heading into lap three though Sutton would find himself in seventh after Mikey Doble’s car went for a spin on the curb at the chicane. Ingram would begin to pull a margin over Cammish building his gap to 1.9 seconds by the end of lap seven. Meanwhile, Sutton would make another bit of progress at the end of lap eight, passing DeLeon at the final corner on the inside to take sixth place with an excellent lunge. Soon a Safety Car would be deployed for contact between Chris Smiley and Gordon Shedden causing the Hyundai of Smiley to be stuck in the gravel.

Disaster would strike for Sutton as at the end of the Safety Car period, Sutton would pick up a front right puncture due to cutting the curb sending him to the back of the grid. This would give Ingram the opportunity to maximise points against his rival. Despite the best efforts of Cammish, Ingram held on to the race lead with a lights to flag victory to take the championship lead in an excellent display of control.

Race two would see Ingram being mandated to start on the hard compound of tyres along with both Cammish and Senna Proctor after claiming podium positions in race one. Meanwhile, Sutton would start at the back end of the field with a full set of boost and soft tyres. Ingram would get away well, but Cammish would pressure him in the opening couple of corners, but the Hyundai would manage to defend. Sutton would make up four places in the opening sector alone before making up a further place against Doble. Sutton would then pass Sam Osborne at the entry of the final corner trying to also squeeze pass Dexter Patterson finding a gap between the Cupra and the Ford. Sutton would manage to get passed on the exit and the run towards turn one making seven places in just the opening lap.

Ingram would use Proctor and Cammish as buffers between him and the soft runners as he pulled a small margin in the opening few laps. Sutton would make his was by Dan Lloyd at turn one on lap three to move to twelfth position. Ingram would be overtaken by Dan Rowbottom and his teammate Tom Chilton dropping him to third, trying to minimise time loss with battling for positions he would eventually lose. Sutton would make his next overtake on Aiden Moffat before passing the hard running Proctor to move into the top ten by the end of lap three.

Ingram would drop out the podium places at the end of lap five, being passed by the BMW of DeLeon at the final corner before allowing his teammate of Adam Morgan by for fourth place. Sutton makes a bit more progress as he overtakes the Toyota of Shedden for ninth. Sutton would then use Cammish trying to battle with Taylor-Smith to pass both of them around the outside of the final corner to move to seventh place at the start of lap seven. Sutton would be left with one car between him and Ingram in his comeback drive after race one.

Soon though, Sutton would be left with Ingram directly in front with him as Rainford would go through at the Complex to move into the top five. Sutton would try to take advantage immediately of Ingram being offset by Rainford, trying a dive at the final corner but to no avail as Ingram covers him off. Sutton would use the boost and tyre advantage to get the run on Ingram into Tower Bend, completing the move to pass his championship rival.

Sutton would start applying pressure on Rainford for fifth place on lap nine as he enters lap ten would go to the outside of turn one before, cutting to the inside to take the inside for the chicane to take fifth place with an excellent pass. Ingram would be passed by Shedden on lap ten passing him on the exit of Tower Bend dropping the Hyundai to eighth. Towards the end of the race, Sutton would be pressured by Rainford by the Ford would manage to hold on and keep fifth place while Ingram would settle for eighth.

The final race of the Croft weekend would see Ingram start in second after the reverse grid draw while Sutton would start in fifth place. Ingram would get a solid start, pulling alongside Moffat who started on pole, but contact between the two would cause Ingram to slide across the front of the BMW managing to save his car from being spun entirely as he only dropped a place to Rainford. Ingram would try to overtake Rainford up the inside of the Jim Clark Esses but wouldn’t be able to complete the move before Sutton slid up the inside of the Hyundai to take third place and then using his run to pass Rainford from fifth with a terrific start. Ingram would finally pass Rainford to reclaim the final podium spot at the end of lap one but crucially behind Sutton.

The pair would then go after Moffat before a massive collision behind with Cammish being forced off the road and into DeLeon and Smiley forcing all three out of the race and a number of drivers trying to avoid. A Safety Car would be deployed for the incident closing the two championship leaders back up to the BMW who had scampered away. The race would get back under way on lap eight with Moffat leading Sutton and Ingram. Ingram would try to pass Sutton before the NAPA went off the road at the chicane. He rejoined still alongside the Hyundai, but Ingram would pass into Tower Bend moving back into second place. Moffat would then have to defend from Ingram at the Complex before Ingram set him up to go around the outside of the final corner. Unfortunately for Ingram, Sutton would use this battle to cut up the inside of both drivers to take the lead despite contact with Shedden who also tried to do the same.

Ingram would still be stuck behind Moffat as he tried to make a move quickly throughout lap nine, but the BMW defended hard against the Hyundai. Ingram would try once more at the final turn, but the BMW was aware of the situation defending and using his exit to keep second down towards turn one and allowing Sutton to pull away. Ingram would try once more tried to lap eleven to pass Rainford but would have to back out before Proctor would make a surprise pass at Tower Bend to move to third and dropping his teammate to fourth.

When Proctor would try to make a dive into the Complex, contact would be made from being unable to make any move punting Moffat off the road and onto the grass, allowing Ingram by for third. Ingram would overtake Proctor at the final corner with a dive on lap thirteen to get back into second place. Sutton would come home out front to take victory ahead of Ingram as the pair end the day on top. But, the championship tides had turned by the end of the weekend into Ingram’s favour for the first time this season.

After the sixth event of the season, the top five in the standings stood like this:

1^st Ingram: 273

2^nd Sutton: 265 (-8)

3^rd Rowbottom: 195 (-78)

4^th Cammish: 184 (-89)

5^th Chilton: 150 (-123)