BTCC: Sutton victorious during unpredictable final race of the day

Reigning champion Ash Sutton was victorious at Round 3 of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton amid changing weather conditions.

Thruxton – Race 1: Cook charges to fifth Thruxton victory at season opener

Thruxton – Race 1: Cook leads BTC Racing 1-2 after dramatic Race 2

Jake Hill leads the championship at the end of the first three rounds of the championship despite Josh Cook’s double victory.

Round 3 of the British Touring Car Championship saw the return of Jade Edwards and Rory Butcher to the grid, both of which had been unable to take the start for the second race.

Edward’s race came to an end at the start of the second lap however due to safety concerns. Butcher was also retired from the race after he had contact with Carl Boardley on the penultimate lap of the race.

The race started in the wet, allowing the majority of the drivers to pull away from those who’d started on slicks.

The track soon started to dry up around the sixth lap and slick tyre drivers Jake Hill and Tom Oliphant started to carve their way back through the field, and were contesting Sutton for the win until the final lap.

Tom Ingram and Round 1 and 2 winner Josh Cook where given 30 second penalties for missing their grid slots and ruined their chances of points finishes.

Sutton asserted notable patience and skill to dispatch of Stephen Jelley, who was leading at the time, with a perfectly timed cut-back pass coming out of the final corner to start the third lap.

Gordon Shedden showed his true champion colours as he made up 10 places in just four laps from the start of the race.

Meanwhile, Aiden Moffat and Jason Plato battled wheel-to-wheel for an entire lap of the Thruxton circuit. A slight mistake from Plato meant he forced Moffat onto the wet grass where he was forced into an early retirement on lap 7.

Jake Hill made his come back to third place after a valiant effort to defend from two-time champion Plato on rapidly deteriorating slick tyres.

By the end of the race, he was only seven-hundredths of a second behind Plato.

Chris Smiley managed to save an almighty slide in his Hyundai on lap twelve after he lost control coming out of Church Corner. The slide lost him time but no places.

Rory Butcher and Carl Boardley came together on the final lap after Parfitt Jr. slid into the side of Boardley’s Infiniti.

Whilst spinning the car back around, he collected Butcher’s Toyota Corolla forcing them both to retire.