BTCC: Sutton wins in dominant fashion after excellent start in race 2 at Thruxton

The second race of the weekend saw Ash Sutton from 4th on the grid get a lighting start to get to the lead and take victory to extend championship lead.

After finishing just outside the podium in race 1, Sutton made a BMW-Esque start in his front wheel drive Ford jumping Josh Cook, Dan Cammish and Tom Ingram off the line. He would go on to make a nearly 2 second gap by the end of lap 2 to Ingram. Behind them, Cammish dropped five places in the opening lap allowing Cook back into the podium places and Jake Hill up into the top 4.

Ingram tried to close the gap over the next few laps, but Sutton managed to keep opening it back up again. Chilton and Shedden head into the pits at the end of lap 5 effectively putting them out of contention. Meanwhile, Doble started exceptionally well to make his way up the order after a heartbreaking end to race 1 to be just outside the points after the opening few laps.

On lap 7, Dan Rowbottom would make the pass on Hill for 4th which would lead to a later calamity as Morgan made an attack on Hill for 5th with the pair colliding on entry to the final chicane. Rowbottom would end up collecting a lot of grass on the front of his car after a brief off allowing Hill to get back passed briefly before the NAPA driver makes his way back by.

Hill would have to start defending hard a few laps later as Cammish on a late charge would find an opportunity to claim 5th from Hill. With Hill out of turbo deployment, Cammish scythes his way by the BMW on the penultimate lap making it three Ford’s in the top 5.

Ahead of them, Sutton would go uncontested to take the victory in race 2 of the weekend at Thruxton from Ingram while Cook would round out the out the podium from Rowbottom and Cammish completing the top 5. Hill would come home in 6th ahead of Senna Proctor and James Dorlin while Chris Smiley and Daryl DeLeon complete the top 10. Sutton in the reverse grid draw would choose the number 7 which initially meant Proctor would start on pole but a disqualification for Cook after a post-race tech inspection would bump everyone behind up the order meaning Dorlin would take the pole for race 3.