Ash Sutton believes he ‘could have had pole’ but for hybrid lock-out

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton believes his fastest flying lap in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park ‘could have put us on pole’ if he hadn’t locked himself out of his hybrid boost momentarily.

The new regulations for the use of the Hybrid Energy Management (HEM) system stipulate that a driver cannot use their hybrid before reaching 120 kph (75 mph).

If a driver tries to use the system before then, they will be automatically trigger a timed lock out, preventing them using the system for a few seconds.

Sutton accidentally triggered this on his qualifying lap, which he feels cost him pole, as he ultimately ended up in third just 0.023 seconds slower than eventual pole-sitter Jake Hill.

“I’m a little bit peeved with myself – I locked myself out of hybrid so we lost a little bit there, but ultimately I think a few people left a bit on the table,” Sutton told TouringCars.Net.

“It could have put us on pole, but I don’t think it’s ultimately what would have kept us there if other people had put their laps together. It’s just one of those things.

“Overall I’m pleased – I’m the fastest front-wheel drive, so can’t complain there.”

Sutton is not concerned about the pace of the WSR BMW cars, noting that the rear-wheel drive machines have always performed well at Donington Park – as evidenced by four wins for Turkington in the 3-Series in the past three seasons at the track.

“The BMWs have always been strong here regardless, and I think they’ve shown that in the fact that you’ve got Adam [Morgan] and [George] Gamble up there as well. Overall, I’m pleased, I can’t complain.

“I’ll try and get stuck in at the beginning [of race one]. Obviously, it’s going to be my first proper experience of tyre degradation and that side of it. We’ll see how it hurts the BMWs as well.

“We’re all carrying that little bit more weight, but I’ll get stuck in to see if we can make a race out of it. If we can do some damage at the start then perfect but if not we’ll just sit there and pick up the points.

“To kick it off with a bang would be nice for everyone, for NAPA and all involved, but we’ve also got to have in the back of our head the long-term plan. We want to defend our title and to do it we need to play the game.”

Sutton’s team-mate Dan Cammish suffered from a dramatic fire which curtailed his qualifying session, but the reigning champion has no concerns about the problem also striking his car on Sunday.

“It’s not an ideal situation for anyone, but the key bit is Dan is absolutely fine.

“As soon as I pulled into the pit, between all three cars the boys opened the bonnet up and checked what they believed was the issue, and no issues occurred on the other three cars.

“I’m sure they’ll still give it a good old look over, but they’re still trying to diagnose the ultimate issue with Dan’s car.”