Ash Sutton expecting tough race day

Ash Sutton admits that a tough day at the office lies ahead for Team BMR after qualifying outside the top ten for the latest rounds of the BTCC season at Oulton Park.

Sutton was only able to manage the 14th best time in the session, which means he will start the opening race of the weekend from 13th as a result of a grid penalty for Chris Smiley.

The former champion had expected a difficult weekend as BMR continues to struggle for straight line speed with the Levorg GT and said he was pinning his hopes on the weather helping his chances on race day.

“The top 15 was pretty much all that I expected to get and it was all the car had – I gave it my all,” he said. “If you look back to 2016 and 2017, the car was good round here. Colin [Turkington] got pole and a win, and then I took a double win but after that, we have struggled.

“We have this re-occurring issue when it comes to straight line speed and it’s so close on the grid that a tenth of a second can make a huge difference – a tenth faster and we’d have been in the top ten.

“The car just didn’t have it in it and we’re banking on the weather helping tomorrow as the front wheel drive cars could lunch their tyres if it’s hot. If they don’t, then we might have a problem…”