BTCC Knockhill – Sutton capitalizes on rare Turkington error to extend title lead

Ash Sutton capitalized on a rare Colin Turkington error to take the win in race two at Knockhill and extend his championship lead.

After a titanic race-long battle, Sutton prevailed when Turkington ran wide on the final lap.

At the start, Chris Smiley stalled on the start and didn’t get away, but further back Nicholas Hamilton moved across on Tom Oliphant, and caught the BMW, spinning into the wall and bringing out the safety car.

Lap seven saw the restart, with Josh Cook having to fend off Ash Sutton. On lap nine Sutton managed to pass Cook at the hairpin and began his hunt on Turkington.

On lap 12 Turkington had a 1.1 second lead, by lap 15 they were bumper to bumper. In a fascinating battle Sutton was well in the ascendancy. On lap 17 the pair were side by side heading into the hairpin, but Turkington prevailed this time.

Rory Butcher was fighting up the order and passed Tom Ingram with a nice switchback into the hairpin. By lap 22 he was past Moffat heading down the start-finish straight. However he came across too much on Moffat and the pair collided. Butcher’s race ended in the tyre barrier and brought out a second safety car.

On the restart Turkington was defending hard, heading into the final lap Turkington made an uncharacteristic mistake, running wide and opening the door for Sutton to pass and take the win to extend his title lead.

Turkington came second, with Jake Hill a fine third. Cook, Gordon Shedden, Ingram, Proctor, Jason Plato, Stephen Jelley and Carl Boardley rounded off the top ten.