![Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK [Motorbase Performance], Ford Focus ST NGTC](https://www.touringcars.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/001_SS_220924_049.jpg "Photo: PSP Images")
British Touring Car Championship points leader Ash Sutton heads into this weekend’s season finale in a ‘confident’ mood, even though the three-time champion knows that ‘anything can happen’ in the last round of the year.
NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton holds a slender five points advantage over MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill prior to the races at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit.
Sutton has been here numerous times before, having left the season finale with the drivers’ championship trophy on every occasion when he has entered into the final round in contention, in 2017, 2020 and 2021.
The 28-year-old has high confidence for the finale, and has won three times on the Grand Prix loop of the Kent circuit in the past.
“I’m absolutely buzzing and can’t wait to get to Brands Hatch this weekend,” said Sutton. “If you’d have told me early on in the season that we’d be heading into Finals Day leading then I’d have bit your hand off.
“Everyone at NAPA Racing UK has done a mega job to get us to this point and now we need to get it over the line. Seven points between three of us is nothing, you really couldn’t script it.
“Anything can, and usually does, happen at the final round but I’m feeling very comfortable with the situation I’m in as I know the demands that come with the finale, both in and out of the car.
“I love the Grand Prix Circuit and I’m confident the car will be really strong. I’m just ready to go now!”
Team Manager Oly Collins is expecting another tense final weekend as Motorbase Performance aims for its first-ever outright Drivers’ title.
“What a season! This season has had it all but, most importantly for us, we’re aiming for glory in the finale in our own back yard at Brands GP,” added Collins.
“Ash has been here before and so have a lot of the people in the team. We’re top of the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships going into that last round for a reason, so at this stage we just need to keep doing what we’ve been doing this season and make our own luck going into the weekend.
“It’s the BTCC and so often things can swing one way and then completely the other. Whatever happens, I’m sure it will be a typically tense final BTCC weekend.”