Ash Sutton maintains astonishing pole run
Ash Sutton maintained the astonishing qualifying record for the Motorbase-run NAPA Racing UK squad by making it six poles from six at Knockhill.
The former champion emerged from the top ten shootout with the quickest time by just 0.006s to secure top spot on the grid for race one, despite being the only Ford to make it through to the final stage of the session
The opening phase of the session had started in wet conditions before the track started to dry out, leading to a chaotic final five minutes to determine who would make it through to Q2.
Those five minutes would come after a spin for Stephen Jelley’s BMW, which ended up facing backwards heading out of the chicane with 45 seconds of Q1 remaining.
Rather than throwing out the chequered flag, the clock would be reset as drivers tried to get in a time, with Jake Hill’s BMW emerging on top – a result all the more impressive considering he had gone off track and damaged his car earlier in the session.
Cook would follow him through in second spot ahead of Sutton and Tom Ingram, with Aiden Moffat and Rory Butcher rounding out the top six.
The early stages of the session when the circuit was at its wettest had seen some unfamiliar names near the sharp end, with Jade Edwards in particular running well before being shuffled back down the order.
Fancied names not to make it through included FP1 pacesetter Ricky Collard down in P11 as well as Dan Cammish, who will start back in P23 after going off track and damaging the radiator on his Focus.
In Q2, Sutton would leave it late to secure his place on pole, edging ahead of Cook at the same moment that the One Motorsport driver ran off track at Clarks whilst trying to improve.
The gap between second and third wasn’t much bigger, with Hill just 0.023s down on Cook, with Butcher and Ingram rounding out the top five.
Adam Morgan took sixth spot ahead of Aiden Moffat, with Colin Turkington having to settle for eighth place.
Tom Chilton and Dan Lloyd round out the top ten.
