Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST
Photo by: JEP
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Ash Sutton claimed his second British Touring Car Championship win of 2024 in Donington Park's middle race, but it was a disaster for Tom Ingram, who retired with engine woes.
Reigning champion Sutton triumphed 12 times last year but has relied on regular point-scoring to remain in the title fight this time around.
The Alliance Racing Ford Focus driver pounced on a wobble at the Old Hairpin from polesitter and race-one winner Colin Turkington on the opening lap to blast around the outside of the West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport through Schwantz Curve.
Sutton never looked back from there and led to the finish - but that does not tell the whole story of a hard-fought win.
Ingram was on a charge in his Excelr8 Hyundai i30 N Fastback and jumped Josh Cook's Speedworks Toyota Corolla off the line.
Four laps later, he got a great run through the Esses to dive down the inside of Turkington at the hairpin to grab second place.
He then quickly closed on Sutton and began putting the NAPA driver under stern pressure.
But suddenly, on lap nine of 14, Turkington was up to second after using the hybrid to blast around Ingram through Schwantz.
Colin Turkington, Team BMW WSR BMW 330e M Sport
Photo by: JEP
That was the first indication of trouble for Ingram, who was then demoted by Hill on the next tour before slowing and entering the pits.
His Hyundai's engine was overheating and losing coolant and, with Hill finishing third, it means Ingram has fallen 16 points adrift of the lead.
Sutton is now second in the table, just nine points shy of Hill's BMW, and believes he has finally unlocked the performance his Focus achieved last year.
"I feel like we turned a corner this weekend and we changed the approach and the set-up," said Sutton.
"We were definitely on the backfoot there with the hybrid delta between us [him and Ingram] and we were putting in qualifying laps to say ahead."
Behind Hill, Cook was fourth while Adam Morgan (BMW) and Rob Huff (Toyota) continued their terrific tussle from the earlier race.
They were regularly side by side and Morgan eventually sealed fifth after braving it through the Craner Curves and edging ahead at the Old Hairpin.
Dan Rowbottom was on a charge in his Focus after a puncture in the earlier race to demote Huff another place and complete the top six.
Rowbottom's team-mate Dan Cammish was in the wars with a concertina effect at the start resulting in him being fired off onto the grass on the exit of Redgate.
He fell to the back but battled to the head of a tremendous scrap for 11th and was then rewarded with reversed-grid pole for the finale.
A rain shower before the start meant the drivers were faced with a dilemma over tyre choice, but the circuit rapidly dried and only Nick Halstead opted for wets on his Hyundai.
However, he bailed for slicks at the end of the green-flag lap as there was no further rain.
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Source: Autosport