THOUSANDS of race fans from around the region and all over the country soaked up the sun a Croft Circuit to watch Britain’s biggest talent on show pit their wits around the track. They weren’t disappointed.

Croft, which boasts a track of 2.21 miles, has always had a glowing reputation and the event didn’t disappoint with

Heading into today’s round of racing at Croft, leader Ash Sutton was the man to catch who started the day with a lead of thirty points in British Touring ahead of Tom Ingram and Senna Proctor in second and third respectively. With four rounds of racing to go at the start of the day, Sutton was hopeful of another strong victory at Croft would send him on the home straight (pun intended) to successfully defending his title and adding a third Championship to his series of accomplishments.

In the first round of racing, it was surprise package Aiden Moffat, representing Laser Tools Racing, who fought off stiff competition from Jake Hill take the first victory of the day with a lead of just half a second.

Moffat fended off Hill for the entirety of the race after sitting in pole position, with Hill providing the pressure throughout the entirety of the eighteen laps. Moffat held on to claim his first victory in the Touring Car Championship since Silverstone in 2018. Proctor was third in the race as he importantly kept the race with the front runners but Championship leader Sutton ended the first round in sixth place, four-and-a-half seconds off the pace.

Moffat said: “It’s a first win in rear-wheel drive! I can’t really use the excuses and say that it was anything to do with the car after watching Ash do it week in, week out, but it was nice to get our first win in rear-wheel drive and to reward the team for putting up with me!”

Drama unfolded during the second race of the day, or Round 20, when Rory Butcher veered off just at the complex close to the race start on the first lap. Then during the second lap, Tom Oliphant slipped off the track as he tried to move passed a number of drivers and went onto the grass at the chicane and the safety car to be deployed for the next three laps. Luckily both drivers escaped unhurt from the saga.

Hill, representing MB Motorsport, overtook Moffat once the safety cars had made way and never looked back taking an unassailable lead of five and a half seconds to claim his first win of the season. Sutton was trying to claw back some much needed points to defend his margin at the top of the Championship but was stopped in his tracks by the determined second placed Ingram who reduced the leader to another sixth place finish.

Hill said: “You’d have to go back to my Ginetta Junior days to find another win I’ve had as easy as that. Get in there. I’m absolutely over the moon with that.

“Huge credit to these guys behind me, they’ve done a fantastic job. The car was faultless, even with the weight in it was easy to manage, and the tyres stayed with me right until the end.”

The third and final round of racing saw Colin Turkington take the early ascendency as a number of cars dipped out of the race through slipping off the track as they look to earn some points at the last possible chance. Sutton was charging his way through the crowd and made it up to third as he looked to extend his advantage at the top but was stopped in his tracks by Gordon Sheddon who kept his resolve to finish second behind Turkington who kept his lead throughout. It was the fourth win at Croft for Turkington who kept a nickname he’d developed over the years.

“The ‘King of Croft’ lives on for another year!” He said.

“To win is a great way to end my day. Even sitting on the grid in P1, looking good, I wasn’t believing really that I could do that because you never know the pace or the handling of the car. But once I got through the first few laps I knew the car was better than I’d had all day.

“I could see Ash [Sutton] was behind Gordon [Shedden] and probably didn’t want to take too much risk, so I just got my head down.”