Ashley Sutton wins a shortened Race 1

Ashley Sutton converted his pole position into his maiden TCR UK victory in Oulton Park’s Race 1 that was shortened to 15 minutes only, after an incident on the first lap required some times to recover the wrecked cars and repair the barriers.
The crash involved Robert Gilmour’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Carl Swift’s Cupra; both were extensively damaged, but their drivers escaped unhurt though they were taken to the hospital for medical checks.
When the race restarted, Sutton took the lead in his Honda Civic FK7, while Derek Palmer’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta jumped into second position ahead of Oliver Taylor’s Honda and Andreas Bäckman’s Volkswagen Golf GTI. Championship leader Daniel Lloyd had a bad start from second on the grid, but overtook his teammate Bäckman for fourth on the first lap.
While Sutton was able to pull away, Palmer, Taylor and Lloyd delivered an entertaining fight for the other podium positions. It was a virtual fight, actually, because both Palmer and Taylor were given a 10-second penalty for a starting grid infringement. To add insult to injury, Palmer was also handed a further five seconds for exceeding the track limits during his defence of the second place.
Lloyd managed to overtake Taylor for third, but despite his efforts he was not able to pass Palmer who crossed the line in second place. The 10-second penalty to Palmer was then rescinded, therefore the application of the other penalties meant that he dropped to fourth and Taylor to eighth respectively, while Lloyd and Andreas Bäckman inherited second and third, while and Lewis Kent was able to get past Jessica Bäckman to finish fifth.
Race 2 is scheduled to get underway at 16:25 (17:25 CET) on a reduced distance of 25 minutes, with live streaming available at www.tcr-series.com and www.tcr-series.tv.