Sutton charges to maiden Infiniti BTCC win

Ash Sutton has delivered the Infiniti Q50 its first ever British Touring Car Championship race victory during his debut weekend with Laser Tools Racing after taking a dominant race three win at Donington Park.

Having looked the danger-man all day, Sutton started the reverse grid race from eighth position and made light work of picking his way through the pack to secure a famous win for the Infiniti machine.

Aiden Moffat had already taken the car's best finish during last year's Silverstone meeting with second position after his Laser Tools Racing outfit elected to rebuild the Q50 challenger and bring it back to the BTCC following a four-year hiatus.

After rising to fifth as early as lap three, Sutton once again set a series of fastest laps, which resulted in the 2017 champion lapping almost 0.5s quicker than anyone else in the field.

Thanks to an incredible amount of mid-corner speed, the Laser Tools Racing driver made the majority of his overtakes on the exit of Coppice heading towards the final chicane, where, on lap 10, he moved ahead of Excler8 Motorsport's Chris Smiley for the race lead.

That race winning move ultimately denied Smiley taking what would have also been a maiden win for the brand new Hyundai I30N. The Ulsterman still took a remarkable second place finish behind Sutton, on the Hyundai's competition debut.

Sutton's 15th career win moves him up to third place in the early drivers' standings, nine-points behind championship leader Colin Turkington, who finished 10th in race three.

BTC Racing's Josh Cook joined Sutton and Smiley on the podium in third after spending the entire race glued to the rear of Smiley's Hyundai.

Adam Morgan finished in fourth ahead race three pole-sitter Ollie Jackson, who eventually had to settle for fifth. Jackson led the early stages of the reverse grid encounter but dropped from first to fifth in the space of a lap after Smiley's daring lunge for the lead on lap seven left the Ford runner high and dry on the exit of the Old Hairpin.

The Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST was still able to preserve a top-five result ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing UK's Tom Ingram in sixth, while Dan Cammish led home his Honda team mate Matt Neal for the second race in a row in seventh and eighth.

Cammish leaves the opening weekend sitting second in the drivers' standings after finishing ahead of Team BMW duo Tom Oliphant and Colin Turkington in ninth and tenth.