Record-equalling pole for Ash Sutton at Donington Park

Ash Sutton equalled the record for the most poles in a season under the current NGTC regulations as the Motorbase-run NAPA Racing UK squad maintained its perfect record in qualifying this year.

Despite once again being forced to run without hybrid due to his position as championship leader, Sutton was in fine form as he put his Ford Focus on pole for the fifth time this season – making it eight from eight for the team.

Sutton’s run to pole came thanks to two late laps in the session and enabled him to beat closest rival Tom Ingram to top spot, with the Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 man overcoming a loss of track time in practice to earn a place on the front row of the grid.

With just a tenth of a second between them on the times, an intriguing battle looks set between the pair going into the opening race in Sunday.

Ricky Collard however emerged from the session with the third-best time in his Toyota and will go into race one with nothing to lose in terms of the championship, with fourth for Colin Turkington providing the WSR driver with the opportunity to make the most of his fast-starting BMW to try and make up ground in the standings.

Aron Taylor-Smith maintained the impressive form of the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhalls this weekend to set the fifth-best time despite clattering one of the tyre stacks at the chicane, with the top six being completed by Jake Hill – who took a trip across the grass on the exit of the Old Hairpin mid-way through the session when he locked a wheel.

Josh Cook, Adam Morgan, Ronan Pearson and Dan Rowbottom rounded out the top ten.

An incident-packed day that has seen multiple red flags continued, with Nick Halstead going off early on to cause a stoppage as his car was recovered. Halstead will start at the back of the field having not set a time.