Ash Sutton again praises ‘mega’ Focus

Ash Sutton was once again full of praise for his NAPA Racing Ford Focus after making it three successive BTCC poles at Oulton Park.

The points leader proved to be the man to beat in both parts of the session in Cheshire, topping Q1 to ensure straightforward passage to the all-important top ten showdown.

There, Sutton set the early benchmark and it proved to be enough as he ended up almost a quarter of a second clear of the BMW of Jake Hill.

“It’s mega,” he said, “and we are in such a good rhythm with the car. We’ve only made one change since we rolled it out of the truck on Friday and it’s just in an awesome place.

“The car really came alive on the soft tyre and to qualify on it was something else. I just can’t thank NAPA Racing UK enough as they put in so much hard work – it’s our third pole position on the bounce and a good way to end the Saturday.”

Sutton will now aim to add to his six wins on Sunday but will have to deal with the fast-starting Hill when the lights go out.

”If the rear-wheel drive cars get a good jump off the line tomorrow it could be a different story, but I’ll try and get my head down and get away off the line in front,” he said.

“The weather is also up in the air so who knows – we may be on wets and it be a different ball game altogether.”