Mikey Doble resisted pressure from four-time title winner Ash Sutton to claim his first ever victory in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton this afternoon.
Doble made a strong start from pole position get away in the lead, a task made slightly simpler by Chris Smiley’s absence from the front row. This allowed Dan Lloyd’s Restart Racing Hyundai to settle into second place behind the leading Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing entry.
Behind the leaders Ash Sutton powered his way through to fourth from 10th on the grid, just behind Adam Morgan’s Hyundai though Josh Cook snuck past the four-time champion to steal the position as the field streamed onto the Bentley Straight for the first time. Before anything further could happen however, the safety car was dispatched following a trip into the Armco for Cook’s One Motorsport teammate Stephen Jelley.
Racing resumed on lap six, with the overall distance extended to 15 laps. At the front, Cook and Sutton made rapid progress to pass Morgan and Lloyd allowing them to take second and third behind Doble. For the next few laps, Cook defended from Sutton but the latter broke through on lap nine to take second.
The remaining laps developed into a game of cat and mouse between Doble and Sutton with the Ford hunting the Vauxhall down lap after lap. With just a few laps left to run, Sutton was right on Doble’s tail but he rain wide at the Wilson hairpin allowing his rival to pull clear and take the victory. Cook completed the podium, cruising across the line just under three seconds behind Doble in the lead.
Tom Ingram’s Team Vertu Hyundai was fourth following a storming drive from the rear of the field which saw him overtake a whopping 11 cars on the first lap. This charge continued throughout the race as he gained 20 place in total, passing Sam Osborne late on to seal fourth position.
Osborne completed the top-five one place ahead of Dan Cammish who recovered to the points after falling to the lower reaches of the top-20 in race two. The NAPA Racing UK driver went through a lively race, featuring a brief trip across the grass before passing the flag in sixth place.
Charles Rainford finished seventh after a far from easy latter half of the race. His BMW was edged wide shortly after the safety car restart at Wilson and dropped out of the top-10 but he cut back through the pack to take seventh from fellow BMW racer Jake Hill right at the end. Behind Hill, Ronan Pearson and Aiden Moffat completed the top-10.
Early frontrunners Morgan and Lloyd finished down the order in 15th and 16th after suffering on the hard tyres compared to the runners on soft rubber.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Race 3, Snetterton
- Mikey Doble, Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing, Vauxhall Astra
- Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus, +0.770s
- Josh Cook, One Motorsport, Honda Civic Type R, +2.881s
- Tom Ingram, Team Vertu, Hyundai i30N, +8.595s
- Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +9.040s
- Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +15.064s
- Charles Rainford, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, BMW 330i M Sport, +17.394s
- Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, BMW 330i M Sport, +17.479s
- Ronan Pearson, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK, Toyota Corolla GR Sport, +18.195s
- Aiden Moffat, LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR, BMW 330i M Sport, +18.971s
Click here to view full times and results from this event.