Sutton storms from 12th to seal record fifth BTCC title at Silverstone

Ash Sutton has been crowned British Touring Car Championship champion for a fifth time, a tally unmatched by any driver in the series, after winning at Silverstone having started the race down in 12th on the grid, Autosport reports.

Sutton's Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium was set up for the race on soft Goodyear tyres and carried the full quota of 14 laps of TOCA Turbo Boost, the championship's mechanism for adding an extra dose of power to help drivers make up ground.

The combination worked from the off. Sutton was already up into fifth place within the opening two laps, cutting through the field to put himself in position to challenge for the win rather than simply protect his title chances from further back.

The manner of the victory fits a pattern that has come to define Sutton's championship-winning campaigns, with recoveries from midfield grid slots into race-winning positions a recurring theme of his title runs.

Alliance Racing's NAPA-backed Ford Focus Titanium has proven itself capable of turning grid deficits into results, and Silverstone was the latest and most significant example, arriving with a fifth title on the line.

With the record now standing at five championships, Sutton moves clear as the most successful driver in BTCC history, adding to a list of achievements built race weekend by race weekend across a season in which Silverstone provided the decisive moment.