Gordon Shedden soaked up everything Ash Sutton could throw at him to notch up a surprise victory in the British Touring Car Championship’s final race at Snetterton.
Three-time champion Shedden started his Speedworks Motorsport-run Laser Tools Toyota Corolla GR Sport from reversed-grid pole position, with Sutton facing the race from seventh on the grid in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium.
Sutton picked his way through to be in third place by the fifth lap of 12, and closed up on the leading duo of Shedden and Adam Morgan (Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon).
Two laps later, Sutton got past Morgan and then appeared to have made a decisive move to take the lead from Shedden on the inside of the hairpin. But the hard-charging Scottish veteran fought back, and dived down the inside at Turn 3 to retake the advantage.
A lap later, Sutton went around the outside of the Toyota at the fast Riches right-hander, but Shedden clung on to the inside line for the following hairpin.
By now Sutton had used his solitary lap of TOCA Turbo Boost, and Shedden had some in reserve. By the 10th lap, Tom Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback was up to third from his back-of-the-grid start following alternator failure in race two, by sweeping around the outside of Morgan into the esses.
Tom Ingram, Team VERTU
Photo by: JEP
Ingram then sliced into the gap to the leading duo, and made a bid around the outside of Sutton at Riches at the start of the final lap, but Sutton claimed the line for the hairpin. There was also a nudge at the hairpin, but Sutton held on to secure the runner-up position, with Shedden taking victory by 0.728 seconds.
Morgan lost places in the final laps, with the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon coming through to take fourth place. Chris Smiley had a good run in his Restart Racing Hyundai for fifth, ahead of Charles Rainford’s WSR BMW.
Morgan finished seventh ahead of Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai), who had been in the mix earlier on, while the medium-tyred pair of Dan Cammish (Alliance Ford) and Dan Rowbottom (Plato Mercedes) completed the top 10.
BTCC Snetterton – Race 3 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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