Dan Rowbottom charges to top spot in Thruxton finale

Dan Rowbottom produced a virtuoso performance in the final race of the day at Thruxton to claim his second win of the season in the British Touring Car Championship.

Hot on the heels of triumphing last time out at Snetterton, the Ford Focus ST driver was peerless out front as he controlled proceedings after hitting the front in the early going.

Joining him on the podium was race one winner Tom Ingram and Rowbottom’s Alliance Racing team-mate Dan Cammish.

James Dorlin had started the race on pole position however he was unable to take advantage of the clear road ahead of him as the fast-starting BMW of Jake Hill rocketed from third to first before the field had even reached turn one.

Rowbottom quickly progressed into second place and within no time at all he was on the rear bumper of the reigning champion, making his move at the exit of the Complex.

Once out front, the front-wheel-drive ace pulled clear to win while Cammish quickly made his way past Hill too, sadly worse was to come for the BMW driver as after a brief safety car period to recover Adam Morgan’s Hyundai, he made contact with Sutton.

The West Surrey Racing driver came to blows with Sutton’s Ford at the high-speed Noble Corner. It resulted in Hill running across the grass and ultimately pitting while Sutton expertly managed to recover from a 360 degree spin.

Ingram would be the main benefactor from the incident as he found a way past Cammish late on for third with Senna Proctor capping off a memorable return to the series by snaring fourth place.

Sutton was able to recover to fifth ahead of Chris Smiley and Aron Taylor-Smith, who secured the best result of the season for Speedworks in seventh. Completing the top ten was Josh Cook, Tom Chilton and Daniel Lloyd.