NAPA Racing UK has secured its second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory in as many race weekends as reigning champion Ash Sutton fought back to win the finale at Snetterton.
Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Dan Rowbottom made a stellar getaway from the front row and surged around the outside of Sutton's Ford into Riches and looked to hold the early advantage.
A minor mistake from Rowbottom later in the lap, however, was enough for Sutton to nip back by while Rich Energy BTC Racing's Jason Plato also made his way through.
The top two pulled clear as Rowbottom began fading towards the chasing pack, and the Honda man would eventually drop to tenth.
The final place on the podium led to a raucous last lap as Tom Ingram (Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com) squeezed past Ricky Collard (Toyota GAZOO Racing UK), before the latter fought back at the next turn to retake the position – albeit having made contact with his rival.
Although Collard crossed the finish line in third place, the positions were subsequently switched when he received a post-race penalty for his involvement in the incident.
Jake Hill (ROKiT MB Motorsport) and Colin Turkington (Team BMW) finished fifth and sixth respectively, as the West Surrey Racing duo rounded off a great day's work.
Rory Butcher was seventh for Toyota GAZOO Racing UK, ahead of Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport's Adam Morgan, whilst Ollie Jackson (Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan) ended an encouraging weekend by pipping Rowbottom to ninth.
Ash Sutton said: "That’s mega. If I’m honest, we made the exact same settings in terms of changes for race two but the damage from the contact with Dan [Cammish] put all the alignment out and we were lucky to get back to P9. If I had that car in race two, it would have been a different story. That’s mega I can’t thank NAPA Racing UK enough!
"[Jason Plato] kept me honest, the old boy, didn’t he? First couple of laps, we set up for the long term, the long race, so she was a bit lively. I saw Jason was closing the gap and thought ‘I’ve just got to be patient with this’ and then his tyres fell away and we carried on and it was time to put our head down and set some quali laps."
Jason Plato said: "It was a good race actually. At the beginning I was using deployment, with the hybrid – I can’t remember how many laps I had to use, it was in my brain but it’s gone now – and I was starting to slowly eat into [Sutton’s] lead, and I thought ‘maybe’ but it was really hurting my tyres. Then I needed to stop deploying for like three laps in a row and that was it, it was gone then. I thought I’d hurt the tyres, so then it was just a case of just keeping an eye on the shenanigans behind me."
2022 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Snetterton
1. Ash SUTTON (GBR) NAPA Racing UK 12 laps
2. Jason PLATO (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +4.556s
3. Tom INGRAM (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7.263s
4. Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +7.475s
5. Jake HILL (GBR) ROKiT MB Motorsport +8.677s
6. Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +9.047s
7. Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota GAZOO Racing UK +12.094s
8. Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +12.344s
9. Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +15.263s
10. Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +15.551s
11. Josh COOK (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +15.947s
12. Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +16.366s
13. George GAMBLE (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +16.912s
14. Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +17.356s
15. Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +17.815s
16. Dan CAMMISH (GBR) NAPA Racing UK +18.905s
17. Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +19.626s
18. Michael CREES (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +22.221s
19. Dexter PATTERSON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +22.690s
20. Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan +24.892s
21. Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +27.961s
22. Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +34.406s
23. Jade EDWARDS (GBR) Rich Energy BTC Racing +35.511s
24. Will POWELL (GBR) Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero +1:45.614s
25. Jack BUTEL (GBR) Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com +7 laps
26. Ash HAND (GBR) CarStore Power Maxed Racing +8 laps
27. Nic HAMILTON (GBR) Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing +12 laps
