Super Sutton stars with Snetterton Race Three win

Ash Sutton has a second race win of the 2022 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season to keep himself well in the fight to defend his Drivers’ Championship following Snetterton.

In a weekend which saw Colin Turkington surge ahead in the Drivers’ Championship after a double win, Sutton kept it interesting sitting behind Turkington and Tom Ingram post Snetterton and it shows the continued improvements in the NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST.

But it could have been a different story with Dan Rowbottom making a stellar getaway and surged ahead of pole sitter Sutton into Riches but a minor mistake from the Halfords Racing with Cataclean driver allowed Sutton and Jason Plato through. The former’s issues were confounded with a lack of hybrid meaning he fell away from the chasing pack concluding the race in tenth.

With their storied history and at times no love lost, many would have been salivating at the prospect of Sutton and Plato renewing their rivalry with the latter having his best showing of the season but barring a few laps where Plato looked to be catching Sutton, he backed off which by his own admission post race was due to tyre wear and also all his hybrid being used up.

This allowed Sutton to surge away with the main battles like in the previous races happening further down. Ricky Collard was jubilant as he sealed his first podium as part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK squad in a frenetic final few laps which saw a superb battle with Tom Ingram.

But one in which Ingram won post race with Collard given a penalty after he was deemed to have gained an unfair advantage muscling past the Hyundai with contact at Williams on the final lap.

Slightly puzzling to some was Collard’s teammate Rory Butcher spinning Stephen Jelley which sent the BMW driver effectively out of the race early on but post race, only left him with two penalty points and reprimanded with no time penalty added.

Further down, Jake Hill and Colin Turkington fought through and recorded a superb end to the weekend for Team BMW while Butcher, Adam Morgan and Ollie Jackson sealed top ten spots rounded out by Dan Rowbottom.

2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Snetterton

1.      Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK 12 laps
2.      Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +4.556s
3.      Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +6.475s (down to fourth after penalty)
4.      Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7.263s (up to third due to Collard penalty)
5.      Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +8.677s
6.      Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +9.047s
7.      Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +12.094s
8.      Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +12.344s
9.      Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +15.263s
10.    Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +15.551s
11.    Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +15.947s
12.    Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +16.366s
13.    George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +16.912s
14.    Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +17.356s
15.    Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +17.815s
16.    Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +18.905s
17.    Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +19.626s
18.    Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +22.221s
19.    Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +22.690s
20.    Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +24.892s
21.    Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +27.961s
22.    Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +34.406s
23.    Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +35.511s
24.    Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +1:45.614s
25.    Jack BUTEL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7 laps
26.    Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +8 laps
27.    Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +12 laps