The build-up to the meeting at Donington Park was dominated by the news that Plato Racing had been placed into administration by their main funder, Cataclean, due to being £835k in debt. BTCC stalwart Jason Plato was removed as CEO and team principal as a result, but the team did arrive to compete at Donington under a new team name of CPRL, with the same cars and drivers. 

In the championship standings, four-time champion, Ash Sutton, held a huge eighty-one point lead over his nearest rival, Tom Ingram, with Sutton’s teammate, Dan Cammish a further thirteen points behind. In reality, the championship was already sewn up by Sutton, but could a miracle happen at Donington? 

Qualifying Race

After starting the race at the front, CPRL’s Adam Morgan drove home to secure his second pole position in successive meetings and he was joined on the front row by his teammate, Dan Rowbottom, who was able to overtake Josh Cook during the race. Sutton climbed from seventh to fourth, but Ingram could only manage eighth. Cammish and Gordon Shedden completed Sunday’s top six starters. 

Race One: 5/10 – Adam Morgan, Ash Sutton, Gordon Shedden

• The top six all elected to start on medium tyres, while Ingram went with the unfavoured hard tyre. There was drama before the lights went out as Sam Osborne didn’t make the grid after his car leaked oil over the track after coming out of the pits.
• As the lights went out, Morgan made a good getaway, but Cook and Sutton both found a way by Rowbottom, although Rowbottom did get Sutton back at the end of the lap, he had to relinquish the position because he did it as the safety car came out. 
• After slight contact with Tom Chilton, Lewis Gilbert smashed into the barriers and as the car dug in, he rolled over several times. Although the car was most certainly not fine, luckily Gilbert was. 
• On lap 6, the racing restarted, but not for long as Chilton’s car was one of many during the weekend to cut out, but he was able to restart it, despite the safety car being called for. 
• Finally on lap 8, the race was properly underway and it immediately saw Ricky Collard fighting with Ingram over eighth, although on the next lap, both were overtaken by an impressive Dexter Patterson. Slightly ahead of this battle was Shedden, who was now fifth after a move on Cammish. 
• Unfortunately for Cook on lap 11, he started to slow with an issue, while Rowbottom was still trying to displace Sutton. However, as the race went on, Rowbottom couldn’t quite keep pace and Shedden eventually found a way by to secure the final podium slot. However, things were to get worse for Rowbottom as at the end of the race, Cammish secured fourth. 
• At the front, Morgan was largely untroubled as he cruised home for his second race one victory in as many meetings. 

Race Two: 8/10 – Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton, Tom Ingram

• For the second race running, Osborne unbelievably didn’t make it to the grid after pulling over on the green flag lap. However, it didn’t delay the race start and Sutton was immediately into the lead, overtaking Morgan with both drivers being on the hard tyre, along with Shedden, as a result of their podium positions in race one.
• Cammish moved up the third, Rowbottom to fourth and Shedden fell to sixth as Árón Taylor-Smith also moved forward. After spending race one behind Collard, Ingram wasted no time in getting the pass done in this race and was ahead by the end of the opening lap. 
• Both Ingram and Patterson overtook Shedden on the next lap, while Rowbottom moved up to second after passing Cammish and then Morgan let him through. Better was to come on lap 4, as Rowbottom took the lead from Sutton with Cammish also passing, while Taylor-Smith and Ingram both got Morgan who was starting to struggle on his tyres. 
• Ingram then made a superb pass on Taylor-Smith by using the outside line and at the end of lap 6, a great cut back by Cammish saw him take the lead, with Sutton nearly following him through. 
• Sutton then worked incredibly hard to fight off Ingram’s attack and a lap later, Rowbottom seemed to momentarily slow down allowing Sutton through, but not Ingram, although he did get him later in the race. 
• Towards the end of the race, Collard was flying and he made several positions, including Patterson for fifth. Although it didn’t hamper the front runners, there was last lap drama for the returning Dan Lloyd as his Hyundai erupted into flames. 
• Cammish secured his second victory of the season and although the winning margin didn’t look much, he slowed down for a ‘shot for the cameras’ with Sutton, whose performance was incredible on the hard tyre as the other top three starters finished ninth and thirteenth on the same type of rubber. 

Race Three: 7/10 – Adam Morgan, Aiden Moffat, Daryl De Leon

• Cammish pulled out ball ten from the bowl, promoting Chris Smiley to pole, alongside race one winner, Morgan. Aiden Moffat and Taylor-Smith completed the second row, ahead of Patterson and Collard. Smiley held his lead as the lights went out, but Morgan was close at the end of the lap and it didn’t take him long to take the lead. There wasn’t such good news for his teammate, Rowbottom, as he received a false start penalty. 
• Further bad news was to follow for Smiley as Moffat overtook him and nearly Patterson too, but contact between the two meant that Smiley lost several places as the pack was jumbled up. This continued into lap 3 as it was several cars abreast down the Craner Curves, resulting in Sutton hitting Ingram wide and into the gravel, for which he received a post-race penalty. Although Ingram continued, he dropped to tenth, with Sutton sixth.
• On lap 4, Sutton slowed on the start finish straight, but after Collard and Shedden went by, he then picked the pace back up, but someone who wasn’t was Smiley as he had to retire. 
• The race continued to provide action with Taylor-Smith moving up to third, Collard pitting with a puncture and Daryl De Leon’s progress continued from eleventh on the grid to fourth after a move on Patterson, who then shuffled down the order rapidly. 
• After De Leon overtook Taylor-Smith, he set about chasing down Moffat and despite getting close, he had to settle for third as positions still swapped behind him. After initially defending well, Shedden lost out on the last lap to Sutton, who finished fifth, and Charles Rainford who beat him by the smallest of margins on the line. However, they were all some distance behind race winner Morgan.

Like Knockhill a fortnight earlier, Donington Park produced another set of great races, possibly better. However, it is such a shame that there isn’t more jeopardy at the top of the title standings as Sutton has once again increased his championship lead and it now stands at a whopping ninety-eight points. Sutton would have been over the hundred mark, but his post-race five second penalty for hitting Ingram into the gravel meant his final finishing position was lower. 

Given the penalties that are and aren’t given out in the BTCC, this one did seem on the harsh side given the speed of the cars and their positions on track. It could easily have been called as a racing incident. However, Alan Gow and co. will need to start giving disqualification after disqualification if the title fight is to go on any longer. 

There are now 228 points left to fight for and while Sutton is cruising home in first gear, the fight for second spot seems to be hotting up. Overall, Ingram had a poor weekend and it has allowed Cammish to close up to him. The reliability of the Vertu Hyundais has been questioned before and at Donington further questions were raised with Chilton’s car cutting out again. Ingram is going to need his car firing on all cylinders to maintain second place, especially given that Sutton will undoubtedly help Cammish given his mammoth championship lead.

It is possible that Morgan could force his way into the mix too after winning two races on a Sunday for the first time in his BTCC career. As has been said many times on social media and on tv since the news broke about Plato Racing, it is incredibly sad that as the team have really started to hit the front, Plato is no longer part of it. Who knows what will happen with the future of the team, but should it continue developing and performing at its current level, it will be a real force if it remains in the BTCC next season. 

The current season moves on to Croft for its next set of races and it will be interesting to see if the CPRL cars continue their qualifying and race one pace, given that their boost will now be more restricted by their higher championship positions. On thing’s for certain, Sutton will be even closer to his record-breaking fifth title. 

2026 BTCC Championship standings after 21 rounds

1.	Ashley Sutton	377 points
2.	Tom Ingram	279
3.	Dan Cammish	274
4.	Adam Morgan	222
5.	Ricky Collard	202
6.	Dan Rowbottom	196