Photo: PSP Images

Ash Sutton makes up ground with best ever weekend

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Ash Sutton rocketed up to third in the BTCC standings after enjoying the highest-scoring weekend of his career to date at Brands Hatch.

Although he picked up a podium finish at Donington Park, the NAPA Racing UK driver was playing catch-up in the points after retirement in race one and was left frustrated after qualifying where, despite making it through to Q2, he was only able to score fourth on the grid.

Sutton would be a man on a mission on race day however, fighting ahead of Dan Cammish and Jake Hill in the opening race to move up into second behind Colin Turkington and then shadowing the BMW driver throughout.

Fighting ahead of Turkington at the start of race two, Sutton duly wrapped up his first win of the year and even though he pulled eleven for the reverse grid finale, the three-time title winner stormed through the pack to take a second win of the day on the soft compound.

Sutton was helped by the fact that on-the-road leader Ricky Collard was handed a penalty for exceeding track limits, although a move to try and get ahead of the Toyota late on would see Sutton grab a bonus point for leading a lap that meant a weekend score of 62 – exceeding the previous record by one point.



“I’ve had some really good weekends in the past but they’ve never been like this,” he admitted. “To come away with 62 points, two wins and a second is fantastic and a real testament to the hard work that everyone at NAPA Racing UK has put in.



“On race day the car was on absolute rails! To kick things off with a second in race one was mega. In race two I knew that I had to pounce early to get Colin and once I was out front it was just about managing the tyres and the gap to Tom behind.



”Obviously starting from eleventh in race three I didn’t think we’d have another win, maybe a top five. Knowing the performance of Sam [Osborne] on the soft tyre earlier on I had a bit of fire in my belly that we could do something special and we certainly did that.



”I think it’s clear to see that we’re dialled into this car and that we’ve left no stone unturned over the winter. Everything is in the absolute sweet spot at the moment and I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. I’m buzzing to get to Snetterton now!”