Ash Sutton and NAPA Racing UK had the field firmly behind at Croft. Despite that Sutton leaves Croft with the same lead he arrived with.
The weekend came crumbling down after a collision with Stephen Jelley retired Sutton on lap one of the reverse grid race. Talking to TouringCars.Net Sutton described the incident in great detail.
“I was just on the receiving end of other people’s incidents, it was just a real unlucky scenario. I think Jelley, I don’t know if he locked up and outbraked himself or something, but got into the back of [Dan] Cammish into one, caused a bit of a kerfuffle there, they all rejoined for two and three.
“I did get into the back of Stephen into two, but nothing that was substantial, just a little touring car nudge. But not even to make a move, it was just a little check-up. But then halfway through three, there was another bit of contact in front.
“Unfortunately I found Stephen sideways, so not much I could have done really.I went for the inside where it was all clear and there was no cars, and suddenly I found myself in the side of the BMW.”
Even despite the gutting end to the weekend, Sutton still came away with a win and a second place in the opening two races. That being the case, the championship leader can still look back at this weekend with a smile on his face.
“Look, I can’t underestimate or underplay how much of a good weekend this has been, not just for myself but it’s been a mega weekend for NAPA Racing UK, and for myself, obviously a second and a win.
“But no matter how many points you score in the first two races, if you don’t score them in the last one, it doesn’t have an effect. So, yeah, just that race three hurts us. We come here with six points and we leave with only six points, despite having those two solid results. We just have to fight back.”
After his recent run of constant pole positions, a third place was a good ‘poor’ result for the #116 car. Along with how many more wins Sutton has over the field, his six point advantage points to a very ebb and flow season.
“Yeah, it is. I’d say it’s very up and down. It’s very good. We just need to finish the whole… We need to package the weekend. We have these two mega races, and there’s something that always happens.
“But yeah, look, the pace in the cars there, the performance in the team, all the support we’ve got, we need. It just gets put in the whole weekend together.”
Knockhill is a circuit where Sutton really plays down the chances for a car that has been dominant this past round. This being said, he is always hoping for strong results.
“We saw last year it was very dominant by BMWs. We were just the odd front-wheel drive car. We managed to stick it at the front, but we picked up a second and a win there.
“I’d like to try and better that, but the nature of the circuit is very much a rear-wheel drive car. We will see. The car is in a better place.”