Butcher snatches victory in race three thriller

AmD's Rory Butcher charged to his second British Touring Car Championship victory of the season after passing Jason Plato and Ashley Sutton following a dramatic exchange late in the reverse grid race at Snetterton.

Butcher started the reverse grid race from twelfth on the grid but capitalised on a ferocious battle between the Vauxhall Astra of Plato and Subaru Levorg of Sutton.

Having started third on the grid, Plato sensationally moved into the lead on the opening lap of the race after getting past both Sutton and pole-sitter Chris Smiley by the Wilson Hairpin.

However, Plato's hard tyre running Vauxhall came under immediate pressure from Sutton, who was using the faster soft compound tyre.

Predictably, Plato made his Vauxhall Astra as wide as possible in order to keep Sutton and chasing pack behind.

Following several laps of wheel-to-wheel contact, Sutton finally looked as though he made the race winning move on the seventh lap of the race, but Plato re-took the lead just one corner later, which allowed the chasing pack to close right in on the two race leaders.

The dramatic multi-lap exchange eventually culminated with Plato, Sutton and the Honda of Butcher arriving into Brundle three-abreast on the tenth lap of the race.

While Butcher took the opportunity to move onto the inside line heading into left hander following the long back straight, that left Sutton vulnerable on the outside line, with Plato's Astra sandwiching the pair in the middle.

Sutton was ultimately edged off the circuit and spun out of contention as Butcher moved into the race lead with BTC Racing's Josh Cook and Smiley both moving into second and third, while Plato was shuffled back to fourth.

That allowed Butcher to scamper off in the distance to record his second win of the 2019 season, while Cook and Smiley completed the podium for BTC Racing in second and third.

Rob Collard charged from 14th to finish in fourth ahead of team mate Plato in fifth.