Ash Sutton reigns supreme in eventful Croft finale
Ash Sutton closed the gap to Tom Ingram to eight points at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings after reigning supreme in a chaotic reverse grid finale at Croft.
In what proved to be a race of attrition to close out the sixth weekend of the season, the Alliance Racing driver produced masterful drive to claim his fifth win of the year ahead of Ingram and Senna Proctor.
Aiden Moffat started the race from pole position and the BMW driver managed to hold the lead on the run down to the first corner, despite there being contact with Ingram – who held a lurid slide through the opening sequence of corners.
That moment allowed Moffat’s BMW team-mate Charles Rainford to move up to second however it wasn’t long before both Ingram and Sutton found their way back past the West Surrey Racing driver and move up to second and third.
The action didn’t stop there though as a huge gaggle of cars that included Ingram, Sutton, Rainford, Gordon Shedden, Daryl Deleon, Dan Cammish and others went side-by-side around Sunny In and Sunny Out.
On lap two, Rainford made contact with the rear of Cammish’s Ford Focus upon entry into the Complex which sent the Alliance Racing driver skating across the grass and slamming into the side of Deleon and Chris Smiley when he re-entered the track.
That impact brought out a lengthy safety car period and neutralised proceedings however on the restart, battle lines were drawn immediately.
Ingram and Sutton had to split the chicane which handed the 2022 title winner second place at Tower and the Hyundai driver was soon on the tail of Moffat, with his sights firmly set on making a move at the final hairpin.
Moffat’s resolute defence stopped Ingram from finding a way past but neither could account for the opportune switch back from Sutton who, with some helpful contact from Shedden, went from third to first in one move.
Despite suffering from damage on his rear left corner, Sutton would break clear of the chasing pack to reign supreme while Ingram managed to fend off the charging Proctor – who produced one of the drives of the day as he carved his way from 18th to third.
Shedden found himself in the thick of the action too but survived to take the chequered flag in fourth whilst Morgan and Moffat – who was unceremoniously hit by Proctor later on in the race – completed the top six.
Sam Osborne kept his nose clean to finish in seventh ahead of Tom Chilton, Aron Taylor-Smith and lead Independent Mikey Doble, who bounced back from a trip to the pit lane to finish tenth.
Further down the order, Max Buxton capped off a strong maiden BTCC weekend by scoring points in 12th. Meanwhile, race two winner Dan Rowbottom finished a lap down but managed to score a point in 15th.
