The win, remarkably Sutton’s first of his BTCC career at the Northamptonshire circuit, came after long-time leader Jake Hill suffered a misfire just as the race restarted following a half-distance safety-car interlude.
Hill, starting from pole in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport, looked odds-on for victory, especially with Sutton, Tom Ingram, Colin Turkington and Dan Cammish starting in the bottom six following the dramatic opening race of the day.
Sure enough, the Kentishman built up a solid advantage early doors as Andrew Watson, at the wheel of his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra, fended off team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith, Adam Morgan (WSR BMW) and Rory Butcher (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla).
It was all action in the pack behind – Ingram and his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N were forced wide at Brooklands on the opening lap as the reigning champion avoided errant Team Hard Cupras, costing him several positions, including to the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST of Sutton.
Ironically, it was shards of Motorbase Ford debris on the track at Becketts that caused the safety car at the end of the 14th lap of the scheduled 22, with Sutton by now up to sixth.
Taylor-Smith had forced his way past Watson on the eighth lap, with Morgan and then Butcher following him through, so the Dubliner was now running second to Hill. Sutton was already up to sixth.
Hill made a cracking restart, but was soon in trouble with the misfire – Taylor-Smith forced his way inside at Luffield, the BMW and Vauxhall making contact on the exit, and Morgan and Butcher also passed the stricken Hill at Copse.
Sutton soon passed Watson around the outside of Brooklands, and quickly got ahead of the fading Hill for fourth. With five laps to go, he got inside Butcher at Becketts for third, and did the same to Morgan with two and a half laps remaining for second.
Quickly the Ford latched onto Taylor-Smith – with a lap remaining, Sutton got a great exit from Luffield and squeezed down the inside at Copse.
Source: Autosport