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Marcus Simmons

BTCC Croft: Sutton dominates from Cammish in race two

The three-time champion started his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST from second on the grid, but he was on the soft Goodyear tyre whereas pole-sitting team-mate Dan Cammish was on the medium compound. 

Predictably, the extra grip helped Sutton get in front at the start, and he continued to pull away, setting the fastest lap along the way, to win by 7.682 seconds. 

Cammish himself was untroubled, while Dan Rowbottom, also on the medium tyres, completed the second 1-2-3 of the day for the NAPA-liveried Fords. 

Sutton paid tribute to set-up tweaks made on Saturday night at the behest of his engineer Antonio Carrozza, which he had resisted when Carrozza suggested them in qualifying. 

“Those changes overnight have definitely worked and the car came alive on the soft tyre,” said Sutton. 

“All cars come alive on the soft tyre, but that was something else. 

“I got a nice launch on the soft, but I had to go late on the brakes into the first corner to make it stick on Dan.” 

Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

While it was serene for the leading pair, Rowbottom was fighting a lairy-looking car and had reigning champion Tom Ingram breathing down his neck in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N. 

Ingram, from sixth on the grid, had jumped ahead of Josh Cook and Jake Hill on the opening lap to move up to fourth. 

For the first third of the race, Rowbottom appeared to be holding up a train comprising Ingram, Cook (One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R), plus the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sports of Hill, Colin Turkington and Stephen Jelley

Ingram did jump ahead when he got down the inside of Rowbottom at the hairpin at the end of the fourth lap, but the Ford was on the inside for the following Clervaux and regained third spot. 

By half-distance, Rowbottom and Ingram had edged away from the pack, and now Cook, who was on soft tyres, appeared to be the cork in the bottle – Hill, Turkington, Jelley and now Ricky Collard were queued up behind. 

Hill got ultra-close to Cook at the beginning of the 10th lap of 15 but got two wheels into the gravel on the exit of Clervaux and spun down to 11th at Hawthorns. 

Cook thereafter kept his eye on Turkington, and by parking the Honda on the apex of the hairpin on the final lap he made sure of fifth spot. 

Turkington’s sixth position gave him the reversed-grid pole for the final race, while Jelley was seventh ahead of Collard’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla and the Team Hard Cupra Leon of Dan Lloyd, who had latched onto this group by the finish. 

Tom Chilton took the final spot in the top 10 in his Excelr8 Hyundai.

BTCC Croft - Race 2 results (15 laps)

Cla   Driver   Car / Engine   Time   Gap 
1 Ash Sutton Ford 20m50.890s  
2 Dan Cammish Ford 20m58.572s 7.682s
3 Dan Rowbottom Ford 21m00.743s 9.853s
4 Tom Ingram Hyundai 21m01.497s 10.607s
5 Josh Cook Honda 21m04.497s 13.607s
6 Colin Turkington BMW 21m04.863s 13.973s
7 Stephen Jelley BMW 21m05.182s 14.292s
8 Ricky Collard Toyota 21m05.993s 15.103s
9 Dan Lloyd Cupra/TOCA 21m06.517s 15.627s
10 Tom Chilton Hyundai 21m08.012s 17.122s
11 Jake Hill BMW 21m12.729s 21.839s
12 Árón T.-Smith Vauxhall/TOCA 21m13.140s 22.250s
13 Adam Morgan BMW 21m13.666s 22.776s
14 Sam Osborne Ford 21m20.717s 29.827s
15 Andrew Watson Vauxhall/TOCA 21m21.154s 30.264s
16 Mikey Doble Vauxhall/TOCA 21m21.952s 31.062s
17 Aiden Moffat Honda 21m22.331s 31.441s
18 Rory Butcher Toyota 21m24.376s 33.486s
  10-second penalty
19 Michael Crees Cupra/TOCA 21m25.673s 34.783s
20 Jack Butel Cupra/TOCA 21m27.236s 36.346s
21 Daryl Taylor Cupra/TOCA 21m34.872s 43.982s
22 Nick Halstead Hyundai 21m35.111s 44.221s
23 Jade Edwards Cupra/TOCA 21m36.138s 45.248s
  10-second penalty
24 Ronan Pearson Hyundai 21m11.119s 1 lap /20.229s
 
(24) George Gamble Toyota   Retirement
(26) Dexter Patterson Cupra/TOCA   Retirement
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