BTCC: Sutton wins under pressure from Ingram in an extraordinary opener

The first round of the 2025 season certainly didn't disappoint as a lot of drama unfolded up and down the field.

The start of the race saw Dan Cammish on pole ahead of teammate Ash Sutton while Tom Ingram started in third. Sutton would get an amazing start forcing the switchback on Cammish at Redgate.

Cammish would continue to try to apply pressure to Sutton in the early phases as the soft tyre running NAPA's allowed them to pull a small margin over Ingram. Meanwhile Cook and Hill was fighting for 7th place as Pearson, Chilton and Rowbottom pull away.

Moffat was on an early charge as he gained six places in the opening six laps and would continue to fly through the field throughout the race.

Ingram would start to close back in though as he started to attack Cammish who was pushing his tyres throughout the race and it eventually cost him as he gained a puncture during the Safety Car Period at a similar time to a few other soft runners like Adam Morgan.

After the Safety Car, Ingram continued to apply pressure as everyone behind scraped for position with multiple drivers like Dorlin and Rainford ending up in the gravel at various points during the closing stages.

Despite all the pressure, Sutton managed to take the win ahead of Ingram. Rowbottom would take home the final podium spot in an excellent race from him. Hill would finish 4th ahead of Chilton while Doble finishes 6th and wins the Independent class race ahead of Cook in his One Motorsport Honda. However, a penalty for Chilton would leave him down behind the two Independent drivers leaving him in 7th.

Dan Cammish despite and puncture under Safety Car sending him to the back of the grid, manages to fight his way up to 8th ahead of Moffat and Smiley who round out the top 10.

Ash Sutton: "It's a perfect way to open the trophy cabinet isn't it? Felt a bit mift that we didn't quite get the pole yesterday and I wanted to ensure that we come away with some points so obviously getting Dan at the start was a crucial part to that plan." He then went on to add, "We had to go into a bit of tyre management from lap 2 or 3 once I realised it was going to be a bit of a harder race."