Ashley Sutton was pleased to set the fourth fastest time in the opening free practice session of the new Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship season, with the MG RCIB Insurance Racing driver clocking a 48.362 around the Brands Hatch Indy circuit.
Sutton, who turned heads at the official Season Launch on March 22nd after setting the second fastest time, spoke to TouringCars.net shortly after climbing out of his MG6 GT and revealed that the car is still experiencing some problems which are hampering the reigning Clio Cup champion’s ability to push.
“The session didn’t quite go to plan” Sutton revealed.
“We had a few dramas, a few teething problems that we need to iron out. It meant that we couldn’t push to our full capacity. It was a bit of a shock at the Media Day, our position, and then to come here and do that driving at eighty percent, it’s interesting. It’s going to be close.”
The BMR-backed driver is remaining realistic about his expectations heading into his first qualifying session this afternoon, and expects the pecking order to shift from the one based on this mornings times.
“I’m still questioning the times, because until qualifying you don’t really know but we’ll see what happens. We’ve got a fantastic outfit, we’re all working together so we’re going in the right direction.”
Sutton and MG will now go away to re-assess the car’s setup and hone it further ahead of the second free practice session, which gets underway at 12:45.
“We’re going to iron out a few problems, talk about setup and get it to suit me and the conditions.”
You can follow live text commentary of the second practice session on TouringCars.net from 12:30.