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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race 3 Report - 19/6/16

By MJP Media | 19 June 2016

Ashley Sutton scores a maiden BTCC victory in the rain-soaked last race from Croft Circuit in North Yorkshire. Sam Tordoff extends his lead in the Drivers' Championship.

A maiden BTCC victory for MG Racing RCIB Insurance's Ashley Sutton

The reverse grid draw for the final race of the day at Croft put the Team JCT600 with GardX BMW 125i M Sport of Sam Tordoff in pole position. Joining Tordoff on the front row of the grid was Tom Ingram in the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis with Mat Jackson's Motorbase Performance Ford Focus and Ashley Sutton's MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT on row two. Jack Goff started alongside Colin Turkington on row three with Jason Plato and Rob Collard on row four. Andrew Jordan and Matt Neal started on row five.

Light but persistent rain provided an extra challenge for the teams and drivers with the choice of whether to run slick or wet tyres and a number of cars having tyres changed on the grid. Sam Tordoff got a good start as did Jack Goff who was up to 3rd from 5th on the grid before the Safety Car was deployed for the recovery of Warren Scott's Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Levorg GT which was beached in the gravel at the first corner.

Ashley Sutton took the lead in the closing laps of the race

Racing resumed quickly with Sam Tordoff in the lead ahead of Tom Ingram with an intense battle for 3rd place developing between Jack Goff in the Team IHG Rewards Club BMW 125i M Sport, Colin Turkington in the Silverline Subaru BMR Racing Levorg GT and Ashley Sutton in the MG Racing RCIB Insurance MG6GT. The battle was won by Turkington who took 3rd place on lap 3. With cars sliding all over the track in the increasingly wet conditions, Turkington set about challenging Tom Ingram for 2nd place.

The Safety Car was deployed again on lap 5 to recover the Laser Tools Racing Mercedes Benz A-Class of Aiden Moffat which had been hit by the recovering Motorbase Performance Ford Focus of Mat Jackson which subsequently retired with suspension damage. When racing resumed, Colin Turkington found himself under attack from Ashley Sutton who passed Turkington at the hairpin. Turkington then dropped to 5th after losing another place to Rob Collard. Sutton was clearly in the zone and passed Tom Ingram for 2nd place on lap 10, leaving Ingram to defend his position from Rob Collard.

Tom Ingram and Sam Tordoff 'help' Ashley Sutton celebrate his maiden BTCC victory

Another Safety Car period was required to recover the Power Maxed Racing Chevrolet Cruze of Hunter Abbott and by the time racing resumed there were just two laps remaining with Ashley Sutton challenging Sam Tordoff for the lead. Tordoff slid wide at Barcroft and Sutton didn't need a second invitation, taking the lead in his MG6GT. The race ended with a maiden BTCC victory for Ashley Sutton with Sam Tordoff 2nd and Tom Ingram 3rd. Rob Collard finished 4th ahead of Andrew Jordan, Josh Cook and Colin Turkington. Aron Smith, Jack Goff and Jason Plato completed the top ten.

After a thrilling day of racing which saw the 10th different race winner of the season, Sam Tordoff leads the BTCC Drivers' Championship on 168 points with team-mate Rob Collard 2nd on 156. Matt Neal is not far behind in 3rd on 153 with Andrew Jordan 4th on 131 and Jack Goff 5th on 130. The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship now enters its summer break and will return to action at Snetterton in Norfolk on 30th and 31st July. If the second half of the 2016 season is as exciting as the first, we are in for some fantastic racing and close battle for the 2016 championship.

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