Champion Sutton exceeds expectations in Brands opener

A year ago, Ash Sutton left Brands Hatch with no points on the board – and went on to be crowned BTCC champion five months and nine rounds later.

So to end a weekend where, by his own admission, expectations were relatively low in fifth place in the standings represents a significant boost to his hopes of retaining his crown.

And with the knowledge that there’s much more to come from his Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Levorg, Sutton can look forward with confidence.

A promising start to the season

Photo credit: Gergo Toth Photography (Also main image)

“I hadn’t done any testing other than the media day shake down, so it was going to be damage limitation, and we came away in a much better position than I thought we would,” he said.

“If someone had offered me fifth in the championship come the end of play on Sunday I’d have taken it, 100 per cent.”

No-one handles wet weather better than Sutton, and the rain came to his aid in the opening race of the new season, the 24-year-old carving his way from 18th on the grid to finish seventh.

“We know how close Brands is in qualifying and our aim was just to progress as much as we could,” he said.

“I didn’t think we were going to have the pace to get up to 7th but we did all the hard work in one race. We made a chunk of places to get on the sharper end of the grid and that set us up well for the day.”

But a gradually drying track in race two saw a topsy turvy, chaotic affair turned on its head in the later stages, with Sutton suffering with the other rear wheel drive cars as a slew of slick-shod front wheel drive cars flooded past in the closing laps.

“It’s part and parcel of it isn’t it? As a rear wheel drive car, in those conditions it was not possible for us to get on to slicks,” he said, ultimately falling down to 12th – but importantly still in the points.

“I said beforehand I would not be surprised if the front wheel drive cars go slicks and we will be seeing them at the end of the race. The boys said ‘is it dry enough for us?’ No way, not a chance in hell – we would have found ourselves in the gravel at Paddock, lap one!

“We had to get going early doors and make as much ground as we can in preparation to go backwards.”

And so it proved, with Sutton powering from seventh on the grid to third while the wet tyres were still gripping.

“I went for a move on Jack Goff for second at Druids, hit the brake pedal and just went straight on,” said Sutton.

“It was like someone flicked a switch and we went backwards. With three laps to go I looked in my rear mirror and saw four cars who all overtook me in the space of 100 yards. It was so quick and dramatic how it changed. The track just switched from being wets to slicks.

“A few people said ‘what was the problem in race two?’ There was no problem other than the tyres heating up.”

The outcome exceeded Sutton’s expectations

Photo credit: Gergo Toth Photography

Starting in 12th for the final race, Sutton was close to an unlikely podium but just failed to overhaul the Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin.

Again, the outcome exceeded the defending champion’s expectation.

“I said beforehand I might be going backwards in this race considering our pace in qualifying, but to my surprise we went forwards rather than backwards and we put up a fight,” he added.

“I think our saviour was that we were on the soft tyre, because it led to masking some of our issues we had in Saturday’s qualifying and made my life as a driver a little bit easier.”

Sutton hopes to have the new Swindon Powertrain engine in the Levorg in time for Donington, where he kick-started his title-winning season with two podiums.

“That’s the plan, and with the amount of testing we’ve had we’ve certainly got a lot of work to do but I’m confident that the boys back at BMR Headquarters will be doing their bit behind the scenes to get us to where we need to be,” he added.

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