Ash Sutton not getting “too excited” about BTCC points lead

NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton says that he is going to have to be “clever” over the final three British Touring Car Championship race weekends if he is to prize the title from the grasp of Tom Ingram.

Jason Craig_1

15 Aug 2023

The pair came out the other side of an eventful triple header at Knockhill in Scotland last weekend to remain first and second in the drivers’ standings, although Sutton’s lead has grown from six points to 37.

Ingram believed he had won the opening race aboard his EXCELR8 Motorsport-run Hyundai i30 Fastback N only to be disqualified following routine ride height checks just moments after he had taken the chequered flag.

Before Ingram’s charge to the front on wet tyres materialised, Sutton appeared to be on course for the win when Josh Cook crashed out only for the result to be turned on its head when the weather turned.

Despite displaying impressive car control on slick tyres, the call to delay his pit stop as the rain pelted down soon backfired, although he still finished well inside the points in sixth position.

In race two Jake Hill (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) was embroiled in an edge-of-the-seat duel with Sutton, who charged through the field from sixth to second to exert pressure on the BMW driver. But despite probing for a way past on several occasions, Hill held his nerve for back-to-back successes.

Heavy rain returned for the start of the reversed grid finale but Sutton once again showed title-winning qualities by easing past the cars in front of him and made sure of maximum points with a relatively straightforward manoeuvre on Ronan Pearson’s EXCELR8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 Fastback N as the racing line dried out.

Sutton’s winning margin over Cook was 9.636 seconds as Ingram rounded out the podium spots in third, 16.568 seconds shy of the Ford Focus ST exponent.

“I am ecstatic – I won’t lie,” said Sutton. “After race one, I thought we were going to have a tough task on our hands in terms of the Championship, but with the disqualification of Tom and the performance in race two, and then to finish it off with a win, I could not ask for much more than that.

“This is the biggest gap I have ever experienced in British Touring Cars, so I am not going to complain about it at all, but we have seen even this weekend how quick things can change.”

Sutton is refusing to lose the run of himself ahead of rounds 22, 23 and 24 next weekend, when the action returns to the Grand Prix circuit at Donington Park for the first time since 2002.

“I am not going to get too excited just yet,” Sutton added. “We are closer than we have ever been before, but we still need to be clever.”