Laser Tools Racing’s Ash Sutton says his Infiniti Q50 “was on absolute rails” as he charged to victory in the final British Touring Car Championship contest at Donington Park.
The 2017 champion had mixed fortunes throughout the day at the Leicestershire circuit, but electric pace remained a constant.
Running strongly and challenging for the lead in race one, Sutton would be pitched into a spin at Coppice by reigning champion Colin Turkington, but recover to fourteenth position.
He made further progress in race two, taking advantage of his ballast-free Infiniti to make up nine positions.
Starting from eighth in race three, Sutton had a task on his hands to take victory but managed to do so after a storming drive that outlined him as a real title contender despite a less-than-ideal pre-season with limited running in the car.
“It means so much to actually get the result that I feel like the whole team deserved,” Sutton told ITV4.
“Come race one it was just one of those where we were involved in a racing incident, I’m not going to stand here and point fingers because I don’t think there’s a finger to point.
“But to bounce back, we were stone cold last in race one, got it back to fourteenth, then to get the reverse grid to put ourselves in this position, it’s just what we needed.”
With some spectacular overtaking manoeuvres across the day, Sutton hailed the “confidence” he has in the car already, believing he found the sweet spot of the setup in the final race.
“The car gives me a hell of a lot of confidence and it’s allowing me to do these things,” he said.
“We made a couple of little tweaks for that race, the bits that we were missing that I mentioned in qualifying, we definitely solved them then.
“The car was on absolute rails so I’m over the moon with that.”
Questioned whether he feels he can challenge for the championship in his first season in the Infiniti, Sutton believes he has the correct package but will need luck to fall his way if his title tilt is to be successful.
“As long as we can keep this momentum going, I know I’ve got the best team behind me with Laser Tools Racing and BMR engineering,” he said. “I couldn’t ask for a better outfit, the car is phenomenal.
“I feel at home here, and it’s the best I’ve ever felt in a car so we’re ticking a lot of boxes here, we just need that little luck one at the end and we’ll be sailing.”