Ash Sutton remaining positive ahead of title run-in

Alliance Racing’s Ash Sutton is remaining positive in the battle for the British Touring Car Championship title despite enduring a race day at Donington Park that saw all of his hard work undone in a dramatic moment in race three.

Sutton arrived at the Leicestershire venue sitting 20 points off the standings summit however a second place finish in race one followed up by victory in race two brought the reigning champion right into contention.

That was until an incident on lap one of the reverse grid finale saw Sutton skated across the gravel through the chicane and then into the pit lane for repairs. The non-score, in addition to strong results for title rivals Tom Ingram and Jake Hill, meant he ended the weekend still 20 points off the lead.

Despite not making any ground to the championship leader, the four-time title winner was buoyed by the performance gains that were found over the course of the event.

“If I’m honest I’m going home feeling positive with how the weekend has gone,” he said. “The reason for that is because we’ve unlocked something in the car and it’s the best it’s felt all year; it feels like it did in 2023!

“Of course to come away having not made a dent into the top of the points is frustrating but that’s the way touring car racing goes sometimes. We’ve had a win and a second place; that can’t be sniffed at at all.

“I’m taking the positives and that is we’ve got a proper quick car. We’ve got nothing to lose and with a bit more hybrid to play with than Jake and Tom heading to Silverstone, we’ve just got to throw absolutely everything at it to see if we can close the gap.”