Ashley Sutton clinched his first win of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Thruxton this past weekend (June 8/9) to maintain his lead at the top of the standings.
The NAPA Racing UK driver underlined his credentials as a four-time champion with a commanding 40th career victory in the reverse grid finale, having previously tallied a pair of top-five finishes in the day’s earlier two contests.
Arriving at the high-speed Hampshire venue with a limited amount of hybrid deployment to use, the 30-year-old spent Saturday’s two free practice sessions finding a balance – and at times the limit – in his Ford Focus ST ahead of qualifying later that afternoon.
Punching in a late lap to progress out of Q1, Sutton then upped the ante to maintain his unblemished record of reaching the ‘Quick Six’ shootout at every event this year; ultimately going on to secure fifth on the grid for Sunday’s opening contest.
From the third row of the grid, Sutton clinched his eighth podium in ten races in what was a relatively tame opening encounter that saw the front-wheel-drive ace jump up to third by the end of the first lap.
Race two would be more dramatic for the reigning title holder however as he was forced to nurse significant front-end damage for a majority of the bout after inadvertent contact was made with the rear of Jake Hill’s BMW at the Complex.
Sutton’s lightening start had seen him begin to launch an attack on Hill but that would soon begin to fade as the ever-worsening damage saw him drop into the clutches of the chasing pack, leaving him to salvage fifth place come the chequered flag.
Lining up in fourth on race three’s partially-reversed grid, Sutton arguably saved his best till last as he produced a superlative drive to open his win account for the season.
Despite initially dropping back due to a sluggish start, the BRDC Member soon began to fight his way towards the front, firstly seeing off team-mate Dan Cammish and Josh Cook before then dispatching Adam Morgan for the lead of the race.
Once out front, Sutton never looked and pulled clear of the field to triumph by more than four seconds, setting a brand-new lap record around the 2.36-mile circuit in the process.
Leaving Thruxton, Sutton remains at the top of the BTCC Drivers’ Championship, holding a five-point lead over Hill.
Ashley Sutton: “It’s absolutely mega to end the weekend with a win and to finally get that monkey off my back so to speak. We’ve not had the fastest car this season but this weekend the Focus has been hooked up and has been the best it has felt all year – which is a really good sign!
“To make progress with pretty much no hybrid in race one was a good start to the day and the aim was to build on that for race two. We had really strong pace however contact with Jake at the Complex caused quite a bit of damage that we had to nurse home.
“Everyone at NAPA Racing UK pulled it out the bag to make sure we made the grid in race three. The car was a mess due to the damage and at one stage we had about 17 people working on it. It as touch-and-go but we made it and boy was it dialled in.
“I made a bit of a mess at the start but we recovered to bring it home; I wasn’t going to let that one go. Obviously we’re back to where we started with the points lead and that means heading to Oulton Park with little to no hybrid, which I’m not looking forward to at all.”
Oulton Park provides the next stop on the calendar – and marks the halfway point in the 2024 season – for the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship on June 22/23.
