Ashley Sutton takes points lead with his fifth career win at Snetterton
Subaru Team BMR’s Ashley Sutton has taken the lead of the 2017 BTCC drivers’ standings after winning the second race of the day at Snetterton, leading the two West Surrey Racing BMWs of Colin Turkington and Rob Collard by almost three seconds.
Sutton retained the lead from pole position in the Levorg GT, while the #77 West Surrey Racing BMW of Andrew Jordan had a great start from fourth on the grid and leaped to second ahead of the Hondas of Jack Goff and Matt Neal.
Jason Plato also had a strong start in the rear-wheel drive Subaru, and was up to third at the first corner, but as the two-time champion tried to go around the outside of Jordan at Nelson, he was forced wide and fell down the order, and with an ailing car, went on to finish in a lowly 24th, while Jordan had slipped back behind Goff’s Honda.
The safety car was out at the end of lap one after Stewart Lines crashed out his Team Parker Racing Ford, colliding with the MG 6 of his former driver Josh Cook.
The race resumed on lap five, with Team Dynamics’ Gordon Shedden initially on a charge, after he was let through by team-mate Matt Neal. The reigning champion then overtook the Motorbase Ford of Mat Jackson at Riches after he lost momentum after failing to pull off a pass on Turkington’s BMW on the straight.
The race began to change shape when Andrew Jordan tried to make a move on the Honda of Goff on lap ten around the outside of Agostini, which allowed BMW team-mate Collard the chance to to dive down the inside and snatch third, with Turkington following him through.
The two drivers passed Goff’s Honda a lap later at Coram, while Jackson was now charging forward, moving up to fourth at the finish, while Goff ended up having to settle for fifth, with Jordan finishing ahead of a flagging Shedden in sixth.
Turkington then overtook team-mate Collard on lap 12, with Collard now starting to lose pace on the option soft tyre, but didn’t have enough time left to close down on race leader Sutton.
James Cole secured eighth, and with the reversed grid confirmed as the top eight after the draw, that means the Subaru driver will start the third race of the day from pole. Matt Neal finished ninth in the Team Dynamics Honda, with Tom Ingram completing the top ten in the Speedworks Toyota Avensis.
Sutton’s win now moves him into the lead of the championship on 210 points, with Colin Turkington just six adrift. Gordon Shedden is third, ten behind, and Rob Collard is just 11 back going into the final race of the day at 17:02 BST (18:02 CET).
