Subaru’s Ashley Sutton has taken the British Touring Car Championship lead after his sixth win of the season at Rockingham.
Colin Turkington dropped to second, just 12 points behind the Team BMR racer. Nearly 50 points further back is Gordon Shedden, who endured another difficult weekend. Turkington’s team-mate Rob Collard has closed in to within a single point of Shedden.
James Cole claimed his maiden BTCC victory in a dominant race 1. He led from lights to flag whilst Sutton battled with Jack Goff and Josh Cook for second.
Sutton passed Goff on the final lap to take second, ahead of Goff, Cook, and Matt Neal.
Turkington finished sixth, whilst Shedden retired in the closing stages of the race. After starting 20th, Collard could only manage 17th.
Sutton snatched the lead from Cole at the start of race two and immediately built up a gap to the battle for second. He was nearly four seconds ahead when an accident for Shedden brought out the safety car.
After a clean restart, Sutton again pulled way, finishing comfortably ahead of second.
Neal was fifth after the restart and moved up to third in a handful of laps. He tried to pass Josh Cook for second when the two came together. Both dropped down through field, promoting Jackson and Goff back into the podium positions.
Turkington was also quickly moving forwards, picking his way past Cole, Adam Morgan, and Goff. He was closing the gap to Jackson late in the race, but ran out of laps before he was close enough to attempt an overtake.
Jason Plato also passed Goff to take fourth.
Andrew Jordan claimed his first win since Oulton Park in the final race of the weekend. He took pole for the reverse grid and led from lights to flag, but had to defend against Morgan early in the race.
After shaking off Morgan, Jordan was put under pressure again when a late safety car bunched up the field. Morgan couldn’t challenge on the restart, falling away from Jordan in the closing laps.
Goff spent the majority of the race defending against Plato and a recovering Collard. The BMW driver was able to get alongside Goff, but the pair collided. Collard retired from the race, whilst Goff dropped down to fourth, allowing Plato to take the final podium position.
Sutton finished fifth ahead of title rival Turkington. Shedden was able to climb up to 12th, taking four points from a difficult weekend.
Feature image credit: Caroline Rhea
