Ash Sutton experiences rollercoaster weekend at Snetterton

Ash Sutton experienced a ‘rollercoaster’ weekend in the British Touring Car Championship at Snetterton, as he maintained his points advantage despite seeing his run of consecutive podium finishes come to an end.

The NAPA Racing UK driver delivered an impressive qualifying performance on Saturday, putting his Ford Focus ST in second on the grid for the opening encounter, despite only having one second of hybrid deployment available due to leading the drivers’ standings going into the event.

In the first race on Sunday, held in the dry, Sutton took the chequered flag in third, taking his run of podiums to seven, after allowing the WSR-run BMW of Bobby Thompson to take second without putting up much of a fight, the four-time champion instead focussing his energy on retaining a rostrum result.

Gambling on a drying circuit in race two after a pre-race thunderstorm, Sutton paid the price for making the wrong decision and finished down in 20^th after also going off the road in the tricky conditions on the hard tyre late in the race.

The 30-year-old put in a determined drive in race three to make up 15 places and finish in fifth, despite damage to his exhaust filling his car with fumes and requiring him to visit the medical facilities after the race.

With Sutton leaving Norfolk having maintained a ten-point advantage at the top of the driver’s standings, he was pleased with a ‘mega’ result despite the continued pace of the rear-wheel drive BMWs.

“It’s been a BMW weekend, that’s for sure,” said Sutton to TouringCars.Net. “The pace they’ve had has been pretty phenomenal.

“When I saw Bobby coming at me in race one, with the hybrid deficit between the two of us, it wasn’t worth the fight, so I just kind of let him have second and didn’t put up much of a fight and focussed on getting that podium.

“In race two I believe we made the right call at the time until the second phase of rain came out. Obviously, us coming into the pits led a load of people to come in as well.

“Tom [Ingram] said that he reacted to us going into the pits. I was talking about it with my engineer for the entire green flag lap, and the conversation was going back and forth.

“We never really take gambles and we did – we thought it was going to pay off but unfortunately it didn’t, it was just one of those.

“It’s a shame because I think we had just got to the pace of matching the guys on the wets; the track was coming to us, and then the heavens opened again, so that hindered that one.

“Starting at the back in the last race and getting back to fifth was mega for drawing the points back in.

“The car was good – obviously off the back of the damage there were a few little things that weren’t quite right with the car – but to still get to where we did was really good.”

Sutton is pleased with his championship campaign, which has seen him yet to claim a victory in the opening nine races but continue to lead the way thanks to his regular podium and points finishes.

“If you look at the package the BMWs have got it’s a very strong car, the same with the Hyundai. We’re there or thereabouts.

“We’re doing it off the back of consistency and they’re doing it off the back of scoring big points and every now and again having a hiccup.

“We’re chasing points. I believe this year is going to be totally down to scoring those consistent points and that’s what we’ve been doing.”