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Tyres NorthamptonReigning BTCC champion Ash Sutton reduced Colin Turkington's championship lead to just six points during Round 8 of the championship at Thruxton with consistent performances, including a terrific victory drive in Race 2. Turkington suffered a lacklustre first couple of races finishing in P10 before salvaging a second-place result in Race 3.
NAPA Racing UK driver Dan Cammish scored his first 2022 victory in his Ford Focus ST during the weekend's first race. An incredible drive from the 33-year-old who followed up his win with second place in Race 2 at the Hampshire track.
Cammish executed the start perfectly from pole position in the day's opening race and led through Allards. Behind Cammish, Josh Cook made contact with Sutton at Seagrave and dropped into a lowly P19 as the pair duelled for second position. The fight saw both drivers lose out to Scotsman Gordon Shedden, who capitalised on the Lap 1 drama and moved into P2, gaining three places on the opening lap.
The race leader Cammish built a sizeable advantage early in the race over Shedden. Despite minor bodywork damage from the earlier contact, Sutton piled on the pressure in third place, but the Halfords Racing driver kept composed as the 28-year-old filled his mirrors.
Shedden strategically used his 12-lap allocation of hybrid and made inroads into Cammish's lead but failed to mount an attack in the final few laps. The driver from Leeds dominated Race 1 ahead of the 43-year-old and Sutton in an all-front-wheel drive podium.
After a terrific lights-to-flag win in the first race, Cammish also got a great start from pole position and kept the lead into Allards in Race 2. Shedden bogged down slightly off the line leaving the door open for Sutton, who snatched second position from the Honda driver.
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Continuing his rampant start to Race 2, Sutton closed down his teammate as the two Ford Focus STs pulled away from the rest of the field. However, the Ford driver made a slight mistake at the end of Lap 4; he ran wide at Club chicane and had to skip through the turn on the wrong side of the tyre stack, allowing Cammish a brief reprieve up front.
Over the remainder of the 14-lap race, Sutton made marginal gains on the leader and was let through by his teammate on the penultimate lap at Allards to help his championship push. The three-time BTCC champion also earned bonus points for setting the fastest lap and for leading a lap during the race.
The Ford driver took a crucial victory in the weekend's second race, and he led home a NAPA Racing UK one-two finish in his 200th BTCC race ahead of Cammish. Sutton's win was made even sweeter by his three title rivals failing to finish on the podium.
In the third and final race at Thruxton, Stephen Jelley managed the start perfectly and maintained the lead from pole position as his teammate Turkington slotted into P2. Cook gained a place on Lap 1 to move into third and immediately challenged tho two rear-wheel drive BMWs as their tyres struggled to warm up.
Cook overtook the ailing Turkington on the first lap, and the 31-year-old relentlessly continued to close onto Jelley's rear wing. Then, one lap later, Cook outbraked Jelley into the final turn in a brilliant late braking pass for the lead.
The pole sitter Jelley let his teammate Turkington past to assist his title challenge at the end of Lap 3 as Cook continued to lead. As the race progressed, Cook enjoyed a comfortable advantage and delivered a textbook victory for Rich Energy BTC Racing. Despite not taking a win, Turkington leads Sutton by six points in the championship, with Tom Ingram in third as BTCC travels to Silverstone next in late September.
