Moffat wins BTCC Silverstone Race 1 after penalty scare, Sutton one point from championship glory
Aiden Moffat claimed victory at the BTCC's first race in Silverstone after a track limits penalty was overturned after the race, with teammate Mikey Doble initially thought to have won the race. Meanwhile, Ashley Sutton almost became a five-time BTCC champion, with Sutton outscoring his rivals. Just one extra point would have given him the championship.
It was a fascinating race before the lights went out, as rain began falling on the formation laps to the grid. Despite the rain, all the drivers elected to stay out on the slick tyres, a gamble which did pay off after the rain evaporated just a few laps into the race.
Moffat got a perfect launch and immediately overtook his teammate Mikey Doble at Copse, sneaking underneath Doble, who was unable to challenge him for position throughout the rest of the race. The Audi's led the way, as chaos ensued behind them.
Daryl De Leon battled intensely with Tom Chilton for third place, the pair making contact several times on the opening lap. Chilton managed to hold the position for a few laps, but it soon became clear that his Hyundai was struggling to keep up with the leaders.
De Leon eventually managed to put his BMW into third place as, further behind, Josh Cook and Gordon Shedden scrapped for 6th position. Cook had significant pace in his Toyota Corolla, and once he got past Shedden and Chilton, he was faced with the task of closing a huge gap to third and fourth.
Outside the Top 10, we found our championship contenders battling with one another. Eventually, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram came together at the end of the Wellington straight, with Aaron Taylor-Smith hitting Sutton on the inside, sending his Ford into the path of Ingram, who was sent into a full spin.
With Ingram out of contention for any significant points, Sutton just needed to outscore teammate Dan Cammish by five points to secure a fifth Drivers' title. The pair of them ran in 11th and 12th, with Cammish just ahead of Sutton, the Ford Focus' evidently lacking some pace around Silverstone.
Taylor-Smith continued his aggressive race-craft, running into the side of Dan Rowbottom at Copse on Lap 7 whilst battling for ninth place. Just behind the pair of them, Chris Smiley made an impressive overtake on Ashley Sutton going into the first corner at Copse, with this corner becoming an overtaking hotspot throughout the race.
After overtaking Sutton on Lap 11, Chris Smiley found his tempo and then came at Cammish just one lap later at Copse again. However, Cammish was able to push Smiley wide on the exit of Copse, which allowed Sutton to come back through, and even have a run at his own teammate going into the second corner.
Sutton and Smiley went side-by-side down the Wellington straight, with Sutton eventually putting his Ford ahead of Smiley's Hyundai. On Lap 17, disaster struck for Dan Cammish, who was forced into the pits to retire his Ford Focus with a technical issue. With the main championship contender out of the race, Sutton needed to finish in 11th place to secure his fifth Drivers' title.
At the front of the field, Josh Cook managed to close the gap to the leaders and then challenged Daryl De Leon for fourth place, the pair of them going side-by-side for nearly a full lap towards the end of the race. Eventually, Cook managed to slip underneath De Leon's BMW down the national straight to take fourth on the road.
Suddenly, with just a small handful of laps remaining, the race leader Aiden Moffat was hit with a monumental five-second penalty, which changed the outcome of the race for the leaders. Moffat was only half a second ahead of teammate Mikey Doble, and didn't have a big enough lead to even stay on the podium.
Meanwhile, after being sent into a spin earlier on, Tom Ingram had the bit between his teeth, coming through on multiple cars, charging through the field in the closing stages to take an impressive 13th place after being forced into damage limitation mode.
Chris Smiley managed to overtake Sutton on the final lap, putting Sutton's fifth title out of reach until the next race later in the afternoon. Sutton now holds a strong 119-point lead in the championship, however just one additional point in race one would have seen the Brit victorious.
Moffat came over the line to take the chequered flag, but with his penalty applied, he slipped off the podium places. The final result initially stood with Mikey Doble claiming victory from Tom Chilton and Josh Cook - however Moffat's penalty was then overturned after it was established to the stewards that he left the track to avoid colliding with a backmarker.
Subsequently, Aiden Moffat kept his race victory, with Power Maxed Racing keeping their 1-2 finish.
The second race at Silverstone will likely see Sutton break BTCC history by becoming a five-time champion, the most titles ever achieved by one driver. The second race gets underway at 14:30.
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