Ash Sutton Wins a Record Fifth BTCC Title at Silverstone
Ash Sutton won the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship drivers' title at Silverstone on 27 September 2026, with four races still to run. He needed a single point in Race 2, started from 12th on the grid and won the race anyway. It was his ninth win of the season, the 56th of his career and his fifth championship, which makes him the first five time champion in the history of the BTCC.
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How Silverstone played out
The meeting was Rounds 24 to 26 of the season, held on the 1.64 mile National circuit on 26 and 27 September. Mikey Doble won the Saturday qualifying race for Power Maxed Racing, which put the Audis on the front row for the opening race on Sunday.
Race 1 was won on the road by Aiden Moffat, who led from the start. A late five second penalty for exceeding track limits dropped him to fourth, and Doble was handed the win. Moffat appealed and the result was overturned, so the official classification now has Moffat first, Doble second and Tom Chilton third. We spent a good part of the episode on that one, because it was Moffat's first win since 2024 and it made him the 11th different winner of the season.
Race 2 was the one that mattered, and Race 3 was a wet finale won by Tom Ingram. Between them, those two races decided the title and the fight for second place, which is where the drama of the weekend really sits.
The Title Fight We Were Watching
By the time the BTCC reached Silverstone this was a three driver story, even if only one of them could still win it. Sutton arrived with a 115 point with the reigning champion Tom Ingram chasing him in the standings, and Sutton's NAPA Racing UK team-mate Dan Cammish was the only driver who could realistically still stop him before Race 2.
In reality the championship had probably been decided three or four rounds earlier, and Ingram had more or less admitted as much. What we were all waiting for was where and when Sutton would finish it. The build up to the weekend was entirely about which race it would happen in. Race 1 did not help Cammish. He was classified 21st, two laps down, while Sutton finished 12th, which set his grid slot for Race 2. That left Cammish needing everything to go his way and Sutton needing one point. Sutton openly admitted to not wanting to finish the title down in 12th, instead wanting to take the risk for a final show stopping win in Race 2.
Sutton did indeed win his fifth title by winning Race 2 from 12th on the grid, passing the whole field in 22 laps in the process. He ran the soft tyre and had a full allocation of TOCA Turbo Boost, which he used both effectively. By the end of lap three he had moved up to fourth and picked up the fastest lap point that was enough to make him champion on it's own. West Surrey Racing's Daryl De Leon passed pole sitter Moffat for the lead on lap six, but De Leon had only two laps of boost left to Sutton's nine. On lap nine Sutton dived down the inside at Copse and took the lead, then pulled clear to win by 5.449 seconds.
We both called it a stunning performance on the episode, and that is the point we keep coming back to. It is exactly how you want a championship to be won, and it is the sort of drive we think defines him. His starts are brilliant, he is quick in the wet and the dry, and he carves through a field better than anyone else on the grid. If you asked us who the complete touring car driver is right now, we would not hesitate.
The result also completed a clean sweep for the Alliance Racing and NAPA Ford operation, which took the manufacturers' and teams' titles alongside Sutton's drivers' crown, according to Autosport.
Race 3 was wet, and Ingram won it from Sutton. Sutton still had only a few laps of boost left but climbed from 12th to second with a move at Luffield, and Moffat took third. For Ingram the win mattered more than the points suggest. We talked about whether a weight had lifted once Sutton had the title wrapped up, but whatever the reason, he put himself back in second place in the championship with three rounds to go. That has turned the end of the season into a fight for runner up. Ingram is on 336 points and Cammish is on 331, which is just five apart going into the Brands Hatch finale.
Silverstone 2026 Official Results
All results below are from the official BTCC results page at btcc.net, showing the top 10 in each race. You can find the complete classifications on the BTCC site.
Race 1 (Round 24)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Aiden Moffat | LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | 21:18.420 |
2 | Mikey Doble | LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | +0.092 |
3 | Tom Chilton | Team VERTU | +1.582 |
4 | Josh Cook | Speedworks Corolla Racing | +4.184 |
5 | Daryl De Leon | WSR | +5.442 |
6 | Gordon Shedden | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | +8.202 |
7 | Charles Rainford | WSR | +8.986 |
8 | Adam Morgan | CPRL | +12.097 |
9 | Árón Taylor-Smith | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | +17.549 |
10 | Daniel Rowbottom | CPRL | +17.787 |
Race 2 (Round 25)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Ashley Sutton | NAPA Racing UK | 21:16.062 |
2 | Adam Morgan | CPRL | +5.449 |
3 | Charles Rainford | WSR | +8.467 |
4 | Daryl De Leon | WSR | +9.861 |
5 | Daniel Rowbottom | CPRL | +10.308 |
6 | Dan Cammish | NAPA Racing UK | +12.606 |
7 | Árón Taylor-Smith | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | +13.079 |
8 | Tom Ingram | Team VERTU | +13.684 |
9 | Aiden Moffat | LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | +15.314 |
10 | Josh Cook | Speedworks Corolla Racing | +19.401 |
Race 3 (Round 26)
Pos | Driver | Team | Time |
1 | Tom Ingram | Team VERTU | 23:26.055 |
2 | Ashley Sutton | NAPA Racing UK | +4.123 |
3 | Aiden Moffat | LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing | +11.312 |
4 | Gordon Shedden | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | +11.621 |
5 | Dan Cammish | NAPA Racing UK | +14.150 |
6 | Tom Chilton | Team VERTU | +15.907 |
7 | Josh Cook | Speedworks Corolla Racing | +15.994 |
8 | Árón Taylor-Smith | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | +16.712 |
9 | Daniel Rowbottom | CPRL | +18.632 |
10 | Adam Morgan | CPRL | +20.228 |
BTCC Drivers' Championship Standings After Silverstone
The season is not over, because the finale at Brands Hatch GP on 10 and 11 October still has three races to run, so these are the official standings after Round 26 and not the final table. They are taken from the drivers' standings page at btcc.net.
Pos | Driver | Points | Wins |
1 | Ashley Sutton | 468 | 9 |
2 | Tom Ingram | 336 | 3 |
3 | Dan Cammish | 331 | 2 |
4 | Adam Morgan | 267 | 3 |
5 | Josh Cook | 261 | 2 |
6 | Daniel Rowbottom | 257 | 0 |
7 | Charles Rainford | 247 | 2 |
8 | Gordon Shedden | 241 | 1 |
9 | Mikey Doble | 240 | 2 |
10 | Ricky Collard | 234 | 0 |
Adam Morgan's total carries a championship penalty, as the official table notes. Sutton leads Ingram by 132 points, and with only 75 available from a final round of three races, nobody can catch him.
How Did Ash Sutton Win His Other Four Titles?
Sutton's five championships span four different cars and two different drive layouts, and every one of them has a different story. Here is the record, taken from btcc.net, Motorsport UK and Autocar.
Year | Car | Team | The Details |
2017 | Subaru Levorg GT | Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | First title in his second BTCC season, with six wins, and the youngest champion since 1966. Sealed at Brands Hatch on 1 October 2017. |
2020 | Infiniti Q50 | Laser Tools Racing | Second title and the Independents' crown. He trailed Colin Turkington by nine points before the final three races at Brands Hatch, won Race 2 and took the title. |
2021 | Infiniti Q50 | Laser Tools Racing | Successfully defended the title, going back to back with the Infiniti. |
2023 | Ford Focus ST | NAPA Racing UK | Fourth title, which put him level with Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington. |
2026 | Ford Focus Titanium | NAPA Racing UK | Fifth title, clinched at Silverstone with four races to spare. |
Ash Sutton is the only driver in BTCC history to win the championship in both front wheel drive and rear wheel drive cars, which says a lot about how adaptable he is. This is and always has been, one of the strongest arguments for calling him the best driver the series has produced.
Can Ash Sutton Catch Jason Plato's Win Record?
That was the big question at the end of the episode, one we do our best to answer. Jason Plato holds the BTCC record with 97 wins from 666 starts. Sutton is on 56 from 324 races, a win rate of 17.3 percent. Plato needed twice as many races to reach his figure, and Matt Neal's 63 wins came from 735 starts, a win rate of only 8.5 percent.
In other words, Sutton wins more often than almost anyone in BTCC history, and that is why we think the record is a real target. It would still mean committing a large part of the next decade, so we were split on whether he would go for it. A sixth title is almost a side issue by comparison, because the trophy is already won.
We also floated the idea of Sutton trying something different. We would love to see him in Australian Supercars, and we happen to think he would be very good at it.
The Kawashima Question
The biggest talking point away from the track was at EXCELR8, where Osamu Kawashima replaced Ricky Collard for the final two rounds after Collard could not raise the budget to finish the season. Collard was fourth in the standings when the change was announced, and he stays on as a coach and reserve driver.
We spent a long time on this, it's a difficult story about money, not about one man. Kawashima retired from the qualifying race after six laps and finished 22nd in both Race 1 and Race 2, two and three laps down respectively.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who won the 2026 BTCC championship? Ash Sutton won the 2026 BTCC drivers' championship, driving the NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus Titanium. He clinched it in Race 2 at Silverstone on 27 September 2026.
How many BTCC titles does Ash Sutton have? He has five, which is a record. He won in 2017, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2026.
Who won each race at Silverstone in 2026? Mikey Doble won the qualifying race, Aiden Moffat won Race 1 after an appeal, Ash Sutton won Race 2 and Tom Ingram won Race 3.
Who is second in the BTCC standings? Tom Ingram is second on 336 points, five ahead of Dan Cammish on 331, with the finale still to come.
When is the BTCC finale? The final three races are at Brands Hatch GP on 10 and 11 October 2026.
Follow The Show
The best way to keep up is to follow us on social at TMF Pod 23, where we post clips and take your questions after every episode. Chris is on Instagram and TikTok at Motorsport Woking. We have an Ash Sutton special and a full 2026 season review coming over the winter, so follow along and send this guide to the touring car fan in your life who is still arguing about that Race 1 penalty.
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