BTCC Donington Park: Sutton wins opener as Ingram pips Hill

The three-time champion worked his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST around the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N of reigning title holder Tom Ingram on the second lap, and disappeared into the distance.

But Ingram placed his car perfectly over the final tour; Hill tried the long way round the final Goddards hairpin, the two cars brushed panels as they raced to the line, and Ingram held on by a mere 0.049s.

After the race, Ingram was then given a 0.5s penalty for ‘not leaving a cars [sic] width to the edge of the circuit’ while Hill attempted to pass him, dropping him to third behind the BMW driver.

Sutton had qualified on pole, but a poor getaway allowed fellow front-row starter Ingram in front, while third-on-grid Ricky Collard also got ahead of the Ford in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla.

Ingram got a bit of a slide on at the Old Hairpin, and this appeared to check Collard’s momentum, allowing Sutton to accelerate ahead of the Toyota and into second place.

One and a half laps later, Sutton got down the inside of Ingram at the Melbourne hairpin to grab the lead.

Sutton set a succession of fastest laps as he built up his advantage, and eventually crossed the line 7.178 seconds to the good.

“I couldn’t afford to back off because then you make mistakes; you have to stay in the zone,” said Sutton.

“As we saw at Knockhill race three in the rain, this car’s so good it’s like someone’s cut a groove in the track and away we go.

“I cocked the start up so I had to fight for it, but once I got ahead I got my head down and I was away.”

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai i30 N Fastback (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

With the victory in no doubt, attentions turned to Hill, who started ninth thanks to a three-place grid penalty.

The diminutive Kentishman lost time in the first couple of laps embroiled in an unruly mob, and was even down to 10th by the end of lap two.

Once he had wriggled through that scrum and into eighth place, Hill began to hunt down the cars in front.

On lap five he grabbed seventh place off team-mate Adam Morgan into Coppice, then gained on the group ahead.

Hill got past Josh Cook’s One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R on the straight after Coppice on the ninth lap of 14 to snatch sixth; one lap later he went past Aron Taylor-Smith’s Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra at Coppice for fifth; next time around he nabbed fourth at the same spot from team-mate Colin Turkington; and then on the following tour he did it again to relieve Collard of third.

There were now just over two laps remaining for Hill to catch runner-up Ingram. With a flapping rear bumper, legacy of early-race contact with Dan Rowbottom, Hill had been setting quicker late-race laptimes than Sutton, and he was with the Hyundai in little more than a lap.

But Ingram placed his car perfectly over the final tour; Hill tried the long way round the final Goddards hairpin, the two cars brushed panels as they raced to the line, and Ingram held on by a mere 0.049s.

Behind Collard, Turkington, Taylor-Smith and Cook, Rowbottom’s Motorbase Ford and Andrew Watson’s PMR Vauxhall were running very quickly late in the race. The bearded Midlander and bespectacled Northern Irishman caught the group ahead, but no positions changed hands.

Tom Chilton completed the top 10 in his Excelr8 Hyundai.

BTCC Donington Park Race 1 results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	A. Sutton Ashley Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	24'26.799				20
2	T. Ingram Tom Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	+7.178	7.178			17
3	J. Hill Jake Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	14	+7.227	0.049			15
4	R. Collard Ricky Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+8.934	1.707			13
5	C. Turkington Colin Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	+9.636	0.702			11
6	A. Taylor-Smith Aron Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	+11.987	2.351			10
7	J. Cook Josh Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	14	+12.662	0.675			9
8	D. Rowbottom Daniel Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	+13.229	0.567			8
9	A. Watson Andrew Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	+14.010	0.781			7
10	T. Chilton Tom Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	+20.666	6.656			6
11	R. Butcher Rory Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+23.698	3.032			5
12	A. Morgan Adam Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	+25.616	1.918			4
13	G. Gamble George Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+26.082	0.466			3
14	R. Pearson Ronan Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	+27.120	1.038			2
15	S. Osborne Sam Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	+28.058	0.938			1
16	M. Doble Mikey Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	+34.692	6.634
17	D. Lloyd Daniel Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils			Cupra León	14	+35.120	0.428
18	A. Moffat Aiden Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	14	+37.900	2.780
19	S. Jelley Stephen Jelley Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	+38.057	0.157
20	M. Crees Michael Crees BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Cupra León	14	+39.120	1.063
21	D. Patterson Dexter Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	14	+39.698	0.578
22	D. De Daryl De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	14	+40.164	0.466
23	J. Butel Jack Butel Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	14	+46.346	6.182
24	N. Halstead Nick Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	+47.346	1.000
25	J. Edwards Jade Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	13	1 lap
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