Ash Sutton took his seventh win of the season as he capitalised on title rival Tom Ingram’s retirement early in the race.

The dominant Ford driver took his 54th win of his career as the title now seems a foregone conclusion with the gap now 83 points.

Starting fourth on the soft tyres, Sutton was third by turn one as Rowbottom stole the lead from team mate Adam Morgan going into turn one. The Safety Car was deployed at the end of lap one as Aiden Moffat went across the grass into turn two. His car hit a dip and it caused irreparable damage to his Audi S3.

More importantly however, Tom Ingram, the man seemingly tasked with reeling Sutton in, was out by the end of lap one. Hehad an engine issue in race one which the Vertu mechanics worked on throughout the break, but he was in the pits at the end of the first lap. An innocuous tap into the back of Gordon Shedden seemed to break the engine again.

Lap six saw the restart as Sutton reeled in Morgan and took second on lap seven into turn two before hunting down Rowbottom. The sheer pace of the Ford Focus in the hands of Sutton meant he was on the tail of the Mercedes by lap 11.

Going into the hairpin Rowbottom went defensive but Sutton pulled a smart move to dive down the inside and take the lead, never looking back.

Ricky Collard continued his impressive weekend as he took third from Morgan and fought to take a hard earned podium.

While Sutton will take the plaudits, Charles Rainford was the star of the show. Starting 21st, Rainford stormed up the grid to be sixth by the chequered flag, an incredibly impressive race for the BMW man.

There was a second Safety Car period on lap 22 when Chris Smiley broke his left front suspension while trying to overtake. He went off at turn one and beached his Hyundai in the gravel trap.

The Safety Car pulled in on lap 27 to give us one last lap to sprint to the finish. Sutton pulled away while Rowbottom had to defend from Collard.

Sutton took the win to equal Gordon Shedden’s wins tally of 54, the most of any driver on the current grid. Rowbottom secured second and more points for Plato Racing with Collard third.

Mikey Doble took fourth for the Independents win, with Morgan, Rainford and Shedden close behind. Dexter Patterson was eighth ahead of the NAPA Ford trio of Dan Cammish, Sam Osborne and Lewis Selby.

Tom Chilton was 12th with Aron Taylor-Smith, James Dorlin and Josh Cook rounding off the points.

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BTCC – Cammish inherits win after Taylor-Smith penalty BTCC Thruxton – Cook takes win as Sutton extends title lead BTCC Thruxton – Sutton seals sixth win of the season in dominant display BTCC Thruxton – Ingram takes win as Sutton maintains large championship lead