The British Touring Car Championship title race remains in Ash Sutton’s hands after a win and second place at Donington Park.

Sutton, who drives for Wrotham-based Motorbase Performance’s NAPA Racing UK squad, is 42 points clear of defending champion Tom Ingram and a further 20 ahead of Kent racer Jake Hill with two rounds to go.

Ingram (BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8) won race two with race three’s reverse-grid battle won by Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Rory Butcher as the BTCC returned to the Donington Grand Prix circuit for the first time in 21 years.

Polesitter Sutton had to fight from third after slipping back off the line in the opener, but soon stormed by his rivals for a comfortable victory in his Ford Focus ST. Laser Tools Racing BMW’s Hill, meanwhile, went from ninth to second following a post-race penalty for Ingram after the duo battled it out on the final corner of the last lap.

Ingram wrestled victory away from Sutton in the second bout, with Hill finishing third, while race three saw Butcher claim his first win of the season when long-time leader Dan Lloyd (Team HARD) spun out on the final lap with a broken driveshaft. Sutton was fifth and Hill eighth.

“Getting past Tom [Ingram] in race one, I just wanted to make sure it was 100% right before making the move,” Sutton said.

“We saw what we were missing last year, and we have really chased things like traction and looking after the tyres.

“We still had some performance in the car until the very end and that just proved that the guys and girls at NAPA Racing have done an incredible job. The championship is on our mind now, so we’ll keep pushing, but we were also careful in those final two races to bring home some solid points.”

“[I’m] really happy with how race day went, especially after struggling on Saturday with the car,” Hill said.

“We managed to get a P2 in race one, and a P3 in race two, followed by a P8 in reverse grid race three. [There was] some really enjoyable racing this weekend and a huge credit goes to everyone at Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, especially my engineer, Craig Porley.

“We now head to Silverstone and I have always enjoyed racing there in the past so let's see what we can grab there. Huge thank-you as always to everyone for all the support.”

Daniel Rowbottom was eighth, seventh and 22nd, with his NAPA teammate Sam Osborne 15th, 15th and ninth. Fellow NAPA racer Dan Cammish was ruled out for the weekend after a heavy crash in Saturday practice.

Broadstairs’ Michael Crees, meanwhile, was 20th, 19th and 17th for Team HARD.

The championship continues at Silverstone on September 23-24.