Ashley Sutton claims 50th BTCC win in Race 1 at Brands Hatch

Ashley Sutton took his 50th British Touring Car Championship victory thanks to a convincing display in Race 1 at Brands Hatch.

Race 1 saw 24 laps become 27 as the stewards extended the duration due to time spent under Adam Morgan’s early safety car. A smattering of rain also added complexity to the running, but only played a minor part.

Sutton got the best of his rivals off the line after a slow start from Daryl De Leon on the greasy surface, and only used one of his four-lap boost allocation in claiming victory.

The result marks the 50th win of his career, while he also picked up bonus points for the fastest lap and leading at least one lap.

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Sutton supreme at Brands Hatch

The race appeared to be rain-threatened from the start of the day, and it began to fall noticeably as the cars departed for their warm-up rounds. Despite this, the field opted for a mixture of the soft and medium compounds.

The two formation laps started less than ideally for Lewis Selby, who needed a push off the mark after the grid had departed – forced to start at the back as a result.

Nicolas Hamilton opted to start from the pit lane by peeling in for wet tyres, and emerged a lap down.

An excellent start from Ashley Sutton saw him lead into Paddock Hill Bend, as Daryl De Leon bogged down and tumbled to P7.

Gordon Shedden had a scare at the Cooper Straight, collecting his Corolla smoothly after contact with Mikey Doble sent his car sideways.

Adam Morgan lost traction at Paddock Hill Bend and understeered into the barrier before making the apex, causing an early safety car on the second lap.

Max Buxton opted to box under the full-course caution, also emerging a lap down after being caught at the pit exit red light.

Race 1 remained under caution until the ninth lap, where racing resumed peacefully as Sutton led from Ricky Collard and Tom Ingram. Dan Cammish quickly pipped Ingram, with Doble setting a fastest lap just behind.

Dexter Patterson picked up a puncture through Clearways and managed to drag his car out of the deep gravel to return to the pits.

Collard went around the outside of Sutton to take the lead before Paddock Hill, as the pair swapped back at the end of the Cooper Straight.

The battle continued between the pair for multiple laps, while Cammish and Ingram battled for P3 behind.

From P14, Tom Chilton had battled his way past Doble to take P5 and join the tight fight for P2 as Collard dropped back of Sutton slightly.

Elsewhere, Charles Rainford and Josh Cook had both embarked on strong recovery drives and found themselves within the lower reaches of the points. James Dorlin had also found himself in P15 after a difficult Saturday.

Lap 17 saw the rain begin to cool with 10-to-go, as the frontrunners started to set personal bests. Hamilton and Buxton both returned to the pits a few later to return to dry compounds.

Much like in the Qualifying Race, Sutton began to peel his soft-running Ford Focus away from the pack – holding a two second lead with a handful of laps to go.

Having been forced to the back of the pack due to struggling off the line, Selby had brought himself up to P13 in a pack that included De Leon, Cook, and Aiden Moffat.

Tom Ingram finally found his way past Cammish with three to go, getting down the inside at Paddock Hill and building a gap to the NAPA Racing driver.

Moffat saw his BMW bounce off the barriers after multiple spins at exit of Druids, having been shunted by Selby.

Through the final laps, Sutton’s lead looked insurmountable. He had come under little threat at the latter stage of the race, and rounded Clarke Curve to take the chequered flag.

Collard followed behind having fallen just short, with Ingram rounding out the podium. Cammish and Chilton placed behind, with Sam Osborne, Doble, Chris Smiley, Rainford, and De Leon rounding out the top 10.

Also in the points were Cook, Selby, Shedden, Árón Taylor-Smith, and Dorlin. Daniel Rowbottom finished just shy, with Plato Racing starting Sunday on a disappointing note.

BTCC Brands Hatch Indy Race 1 Results