BTCC: Reigning champion finally on the top podium spot

The reigning BTCC champion Ashley Sutton had to wait until the fifth round of the 2018 season to score his first win this year. He did that in the first race of the Croft BTCC meeting after he started from pole in the #1 Subaru Levorg GT. Sutton then added one more win to his account in the second race, what was his ninth BTCC victory in a career. The winner of the third race at Croft was Daniel Lloyd in the #26 Honda Civic Type R of BTC Norlin Racing.

Front-row starters Sutton (right) and Plato finished first and second in Race 1

1-2 victory for Subaru

Adrian Flux Subaru Racing had two cars on the front row of the grid in the first race after Ashley Sutton and veteran Jason Plato set the fastest times in qualifying. After seventeen laps of racing, two Subarus stayed in front and Sutton scored his first win in 2018. It was also the best result of the season for Plato, who didn’t score points in the previous four rounds.

Plato was fighting for P2 against BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan. After losing a battle against Plato, Jordan struggled with tyres and dropped to P10. Tom Ingram reached the podium in the #80 Toyota Avensis of Speedworks Motorsport. Sam Tordoff finished fourth in the #600 Ford Focus RS of Motorbase performance, holding off two Team BMW drivers Colin Turkington and Rob Collard.

One more win for Sutton

In the second race, Ash Sutton has taken his second win of the day, fighting against Tom Ingram who took the lead on the opening lap. Jason Plato was penalized because of a jump start and dropped out from a fight for the win.

After fifteen laps, Sutton defeated Ingram by four seconds while Colin Turkington took the third place with 11sec gap behind Sutton. Sam Tordoff finished in the fourth place again, ahead of BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan.

Daniel Lloyd’s Honda Civic

Maiden BTCC win for Daniel Lloyd

Daniel Lloyd finished the second race in the ninth place and he was rewarded with a pole position in the reverse-grid Race 3. He converted pole position into his maiden BTCC victory. Not only it’s the first ever BTCC win for him but he won the race at his home circuit.

Tom Chilton took second for Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher in the #3 Ford Focus RS. Senna Proctor started from P2 and finished in the third place in the Power Maxed TAG Racing #18 Vauxhall Astra.

Check the full results of BTCC races at Croft circuit

Photos: BTCC,