BTCC: Points leader Sutton romps to race one victory at Thruxton

Sutton executed a textbook launch from pole position to retain a lead he would never relinquish ahead of Hyundai's Ingram as the three-time champion romped to his fifth victory of the season, extending his points to 12 ahead of defending champion in the process.

The NAPA Racing UK driver settled into a consistent rhythm right from the start of the race as Sutton quickly assembled a near one-second gap, with Ingram giving chase in second position.

As Sutton extended his lead ahead of Ingram, the Hyundai driver was forced to switch his attentions to defending second ahead of Thruxton maestro Josh Cook in third.

At one point, Cook came perilously close to demoting Ingram to third step on the rostrum, but the reigning champion held his nerve to gradually open the gap back to the chasing One Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R.

Sutton eventually crossed the line 2.5s ahead of Ingram, while Cook completed the podium in third, a further 1.5s adrift of the EXCELR8 Hyundai i30N.

Laser Tools Racing's Jake Hill endured a lonely race to finish as the top BMW runner in fourth position. With the top-three proving to be a league in of their own, Hill ended the race over four-seconds adrift of Cook's Honda Civic Type-R.

NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish compensated for a slightly disappointing run to secure a top-five finish in fifth. Cammish made a rapid start to the race after making up three places on the opening lap, before passing four-time champion Colin Turkington for fifth on lap two.

Turkington spent the entire race sitting just 0.5s behind the Ford Focus of Cammish, but the Team BMW driver never got quite close enough to launch a meaningful attack.

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Rory Butcher secured a seventh-place finish, ahead of Power Maxed Racing duo Mikey Doble and Aron Taylor-Smith in eighth and ninth.

Team HARD's Bobby Thompson completed the top-ten order in tenth.