Ash Sutton continues to lead British Touring Car Championship standings after positive weekend at Thruxton with Southam-based Laser Tools Racing
LASER Tools Racing's Ash Sutton maintained his lead at the top of the British Touring Car Championship drivers' standings after a positive weekend at Thruxton.
However, the Southam-based team are now level with BTC Racing in the teams' standings on 330 points after their rivals enjoyed a points-laden weekend at the Hampshire circuit.
There was drama in the qualifying sessions as Aiden Moffat recovered from a terrifying tyre blowout at over 140mph on the entry to Church corner which sent him backwards into a potentially damaging crash.
However, he managed to avoid the barriers and nursed the Infiniti Q50 back to the pits before eventually setting a time of 1:16.644 to qualify 18th.
As for Sutton, he would line up seventh for the first race after posting 1:15.862 while Carl Boardley was much further back in 26th after clocking 1:17.061.
Despite carry maximum success ballast, Sutton would come fifth after a stellar drive in the first race, Moffat made up some places before dropping a wheel on the grass which saw him slip down five places.
He would eventually be classified 18th after being handed a one-second time penalty for gaining an unfair advantage, meanwhile, Boardley climbed a few places to finish 24th.
Starting in fifth place for race two, Sutton got off to a great start and made overtake after overtake before he took the lead of the race on lap ten. Sutton was able to maintain his lead to take victory after one of his most exciting drives of the season.
Moffat would finish down in 13th while Boardley was further back in 21st.
For the third and final race of the weekend Sutton would line up eighth following the reverse grid draw and the 75kg success ballast certainly had an impact as the championship leader would cross the chequered flag tenth.
Moffat came home 13th while Boardley's race was ended on lap nine after a collision with Paul Rivett.
The next round of the BTCC heads to Croft on 18th-19th September.
