Ash Sutton opens Subaru account in race two
Ash Sutton maintained his solid start to life with Team BMR with victory in the second BTCC race of the weekend at Oulton Park.
Sutton had enjoyed a strong drive to third in the opening race of the weekend and was quick to put poleman Andrew Jordan under pressure when the lights went out to start race two.
Chasing the BMW through the opening lap of the race, Sutton made his move into Knickerbrook on the second lap and was then able to control proceedings from the front – making him the second driver of the weekend to take victory on the soft compound Dunlop tyre.
It was Sutton’s first win of the season and the first for the Subaru Levorg this season.
Running with full ballast by virtue of his race one victory, Jordan did his best to hold onto second place but would slip behind WSR team-mate Rob Collard on lap four before being mugged by the Halfords-backed Hondas of Matt Neal and Gordon Shedden a lap later.
Whilst Collard set off to try and chase down Sutton, the Hondas would run together behind with Shedden briefly moving ahead before the positions were reversed once more by the flag.
Jordan had to settle for fifth place ahead of the Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus of Josh Cook, which will now start from the front of the field after the reverse grid draw for race three saw celebrity chef James Martin pull six from the hat.
Mat Jackson, Rob Austin, Jake Hill and Michael Epps rounded out the top ten.
From nearly the back of the grid, Colin Turkington was able to fight his way through the field to 13th place after a dramatic final lap that saw him make contact with Jeff Smith at the final corner having been hit from behind by Senna Proctor’s Vauxhall.
Proctor would then spin on the run to the line after a clash with Aiden Moffat’s Mercedes, which had slipped down the order earlier on after a lurid slide at Cascades.
Championship leader Tom Ingram would endure another race to forget; retiring on lap eight after a clash with James Cole and Will Burns at the Island Hairpin damaged his Toyota.
It means Shedden now leads the championship standings by five points from Ingram and Collard going into race three.
Adam Morgan failed to make the start of the race, with his Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes catching fire at the start of the green flag lap.
