ASH CLEANS UP AT DOUBLE

ASH SUTTON secured a memorable double victory in the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton.

Two outstanding drives included a fight from third on the grid to win the opener.

And his second success was a dominant lights-to-flag performance.

Retirement in the final contest – after being bumped – did leave a slight cloud on his weekend.

But Sutton, 23, who left the Norfolk circuit in serious championship contention, said: “I’m really enjoying it. The car is phenomenal.

“We made some changes between races one and two and, if anything, we made the car even better. I’ll take where we are now.”

Sutton briefly led the standings after his second victory but reigning champion Gordon Shedden returned to the summit after he won the thrilling final race yesterday.

The Honda man fought the three BMWs of Andrew Jordan, Rob Collard and Colin Turkington throughout the 12-lap race and took the chequered flag when long-time leader Jordan retired with a mechanical problem. Shedden said: “We’ve just been plugging away. It was really unexpected and doubly so with the pressure from the BMWs.

“It didn’t do me any harm when they started battling each other.

“The car felt a bit lively towards the end of the race but gave us what we needed.”

Turkington and Collard took two podiums apiece to maintain their own championship challenge.

Shedden now leads Turkington by two points in the standings with Collard a further two points in arrears. Sutton’s display leaves him 11 points off the top of the table.