David Sutton scored the first two wins of his Milltek Sport VW Racing Cup career to sweep the series’ weekend on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix track.
Slidesports driver Sutton started the first of the two Sunday races from pole, but a slow start threatened to derail his weekend before the large field had reached Paddock Hill Bend for the first time. Instead it was Howard Fuller’s Team HARD Golf that led the pack into the first 2.4 mile lap, Sutton able to beat Jack Walker-Tully away from the line to take up second place.
Back at the top of Paddock Hill for the second lap Sutton passed Fuller to take the lead, and as he began the descent ahead both Fuller and Walker-Tully began lurid slides, Walker-Tully having to take avoiding action as Fuller was briefly broadside ahead of him. As a result Fuller slipped from the top ten while Walker-Tully fell to fourth behind James Greenway and points leader Stefan di Resta. Meanwhile, Craig Mason, Chris Knox and Paul Dehadray collided exiting Clark Curve, Mason and series debutant Knox ending their races against the wall, Dehardray able to limp his JWB Motorsport Scirocco into retirement.
Three laps under the safety car followed, Sutton making a better job of the restart than the standing start to keep Greenway in second place. As he began to edge away towards a maiden win Walker-Tully was the man on the move, recovering the ground he lost avoiding Fuller, taking second with a lap to go.
Behind di Resta Lucas Orrock completed the top six. Fuller finished only 14th, losing a further two places once the race returned to green.
Coming from sixth on the reversed grid for the second race Sutton became the first double winner of the season.
Much of the work necessary to secure the double was done in the opening corners. In contrast to the earlier race a rapid start moved him up to second off the line, a succession of moves capped by an attempt to pass Joe Fulbrook for second.
As he had to make way for Sutton Fulbrook bumped James Greenway into a trip through the gravel, Aaron Mason following him wide and down the order. Further round the lap Jack Walker-Tully and Darrelle Wilson clashed at Druids, both drivers retiring without completing the opening lap, the safety car neutralising the field for a lap while Walker-Tully’s car was hauled from the gravel.
Leading the field to the green flag Lucas Orrock was caught napping on the restart, Sutton seizing the lead before moving away into the lead. Orrock, instead, had to turn his attention to trying to keep second place. Up from 14th on the grid Howard Fuller emerged as his major challenger.
By avoiding the first lap incidents he was moved up to sixth in short order, continuing his progress at a similarly rapid rate to pass Orrock for second on lap seven before closing in Sutton.
However, a look for the lead at Surtees on the penultimate lap backfired, Fuller losing two spots rather than gaining one. As Sutton went on to take the win Fuller’s difficult weekend was capped almost within sight of the finish line. Coming out of Clark on the final lap Fuller slid across the track, crashing into the pitwall out of fourth place, a spot snatched up by Mason as James Walker was caught up in Fuller’s incident.
Stewart Lines completed the top six. Stefan di Resta could only finish 14th, struggling with the steering on his JWB Motorsport entry after contact in the earliest part of the race. The poor result saw him fall to third in the championship points now led by Fulbrook who completed the race two podium behind Sutton and Orrock, who lies second in the standings with only the Donington Park meeting left on the schedule.
