Four-time British Touring Car Championship title winner Ash Sutton enjoyed a near-perfect weekend at Donington Park as the UK’s premier motorsport series lifted the curtain on the 2026 season in spectacular style.

In front of a huge trackside crowd, the NAPA Racing UK driver scored two wins and a second place on Sunday, less than 24 hours after being pulled out of the gravel trap during Saturday’s inaugural Qualifying Race.

Elsewhere, LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing enjoyed a dream first outing with their brand-new Audi S3 Saloon as Mikey Doble claimed a popular victory in a frenetic opening encounter.

With the introduction of a new Saturday format, edge-of-the-seat entertainment was guaranteed for the first-ever Qualifying Race and that was exactly what was delivered as Cataclean Plato Racing’s Dan Rowbottom wrote his name into the history books.

Run over 13 laps, the contest had it all as Sutton and reigning champion Tom Ingram clashed, resulting in the Ford driver being beached in the gravel. Not long after that Ingram was handed a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits.

Needing to build up a margin over his nearest challenger, Ingram pulled the pin and stretched his legs out front however he fell 0.024s short of his target time, meaning the win went to Rowbottom on his first outing for the new Mercedes team.

Race day saw Ingram look to make amends in the opening encounter as he cruised to victory however there was to be more trouble ahead as he was subsequently disqualified from the result for a significant overboost infringement.

Ingram’s demise opened to door for Doble to take the spoils while Sutton produced a sublime drive to go from the very back of the grid up to second. Completing the podium was the West Surrey Racing BMW of Charles Rainford.

Races two and three under the flight path of East Midlands airport belonged to Sutton as he claimed back-to-back wins, the second of which came in his 300th BTCC start.

Jumping Doble off the line in race two, the Ford ace streaked clear of the chasing pack to lead home a NAPA 1-2 as Dan Cammish finished in second; and on the podium with them was three-time champion Gordon Shedden.

Starting from eighth on the grid for race three, Sutton produced another scintillating performance as he carved his way to the front of the field on the soft tyre to lead home Tom Ingram (who had started at the back) and his Hyundai team-mate Ricky Collard.

Leaving Donington Park, Sutton has a commanding 18-point lead ahead of Rainford in the Drivers’ Championship while NAPA Racing UK lad the early going in the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ categories.

Aiden Moffat and LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing were the cream of the crop in the Independents’, with Dexter Patterson heading the Jack Sears Trophy table.

Th 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season continues in less than three weeks’ time at Brands Hatch on May 9-10.