Ash Sutton pleased with unexpected pole

Ash Sutton admitted he was pleased to secure the first pole of the BTCC season after topping the times in a wet qualifying session at Brands Hatch.

The Team BMR driver beat former team-mate Jason Plato to top spot in a session that was stopped three times for incidents elsewhere, and was affected by poor weather conditions throughout.

Sutton eventually emerged on top by just over a tenth of a second and admitted the conditions had worked in his favour.

“It’s nice to be on pole,” he said. “The weather was key to be honest as those conditions are ones where I have always been strong. We showed in FP1 that we have a strong package but if it had been dry, I think we’d have been looking to come away happy with a top ten finish.

“As it is, the team has done a great job on the car over the winter and it was on rails – the best it has ever been at the first round of the year. We’ll have to see how the races pan out as I expect Jason to be strong and we know the BMWs behind are also fast, but I have track position.

“One thing for certain is that I’m not going to give up the fight easily!”