Ash Sutton wins wet-to-dry Snetterton Race 2 thriller

Ash Sutton has closed up in the championship after taking his third win of the year in the second race at Snetterton in his Subaru, holding off a late charge from the Vauxhall of Josh Cook, while Tom Ingram went from 27th to third in the race to decimate Colin Turkington’s championship lead.

Sutton was promoted to the effective pole position after a technical issue for Race 1 winner Jack Goff saw the Eurotech Honda driver forced to start from the pit lane.

The talk ahead of the race was tyres, with the rain having stopped for the first time today making slicks an option for the first time, with all drivers opting to start on the Dunlop soft option tyre.

Sutton led the way into Turn 1 ahead of the Team Dynamics Honda of Dan Cammish, while Rob Austin briefly put his HMS Alfa Romeo up to third before he was passed by the BTC Norlin Honda of Chris Smiley.

Further behind there was trouble for championship leader Colin Turkington, who was caught up in an incident between the two Hondas of Brett Smith and Dan Lloyd, with Lloyd’s Civic knocked into the rear of Turkington’s BMW, breaking his suspension and forcing him to the pits.

Austin’s race only lasted five laps as he retired with damage after a close battle with the Motorbase Ford Focus of Sam Tordoff, while Josh Cook in the Power Maxed Vauxhall overtook Smiley’s Honda for third at Murrays.

There was a big incident on lap six when Jason Plato, who had opted to start from the pit lane and avoid any drama at the start, spun off at Riches and sustained heavy damage to his BMR Subaru Levorg GT.

Plato slowly brought the car back to the pits, but on lap ten there was another incident at Riches, when the two BMWs of Stephen Jelley and Rob Collard came together, with Collard sustaining significant rear-end damage to his BMW 125i M Sport.

The safety car was deployed just as Josh Cook made a move on Cammish’s Honda for second and had to give the spot back.

The race restarted with two laps to go, with Cook soon re-passing Cammish and closing up on Sutton, closely following the reigning champion across the finish line.

All the while Tom Ingram completed a fantastic charge through the field, having made his way up to sixth before the safety car, and completing three more passes on Tordoff, Smiley and Cammish to take the final podium position, also setting the fastest lap and closing in to just four points behind Colin Turkington in the championship.

Sutton is just 13 points behind Turkington, with Cook 24 points behind, while Goff now slips to fifth in the standings after failing to score in Race 2.

The final race of the day is the 20-lap Diamond Double event, with no success ballast and the grid as set in a special qualifying session yesterday, which is scheduled for 17:15 BST.