Adrian Flux Subaru Racing – BMR 2019

Words by Damien Cross

November 1, 2019

The 2019 BTCC season saw a frantic final fling for the characterful Subaru Levorg as the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing team delighted the crowds and TV audiences alike with gutsy performances against the odds.

The final results flatter the car’s performance as the distinctive estate car appeared to suffer from a straight-line performance deficit when restricted in accordance with the BTCC’s Balance of Performance regulations – but with two hungry young drivers still fighting at the front, the car not only secured a solid place in the final championship standings but also an incredibly hard-earned top step of the podium.

Here’s how we tackled 2019.

Our team and drivers

BMR

Once again the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing cars were engineered and run by the incredible title-winning BMR Racing, based in Hertfordshire. 2019 was the fourth year of this great trio of BMR, Subaru, and Adrian Flux.

Ash

Ashley Sutton stayed on for the third year in a row, having won the driver’s championship with the team in 2017 and valiantly trying to retain that title in 2018, managing to score race wins despite just missing out on the champion’s spot to Colin Turkington. 2019 would go on to be a huge challenge, but Ash made sure he still performed beyond expectations.

Senna

After two years’ racing in BTCC with Power Maxed Racing, Senna Proctor was welcomed back to BMR after racing for the outfit in Ginetta Junior Championship (2015) and the Renault Clio Cup back in 2016. The young driver was keen to master the rear wheel drive Subaru Levorg and grab a haul of points in the 2019 championship.

The Season

Rounds 1-3 (6-7 Apr) Brands Hatch Indy

A perfect start to the season’s competitive action saw Ash grab pole position on a greasy surface ahead of round 1. Ash was unable to hold onto the lead as weather conditions meant the track conditions changed throughout the race and tyre choice was ultimately the deciding factor as Ash dropped down the rankings. In the second race he moved into the lead once more, but the BMW straight-line speed was too hard to hold at bay and so a 2nd-place finish was the most that could have been achieved. Race three saw an incident meaning Ash finished outside of the points.

Senna’s aim was to learn and progress, and despite the incredibly tricky conditions, he scored valuable points in race two, as well as a whole heap of experience and a taste for what could be achieved.

Rounds 4-6 (27-28 Apr) Donington Park

An unexpected but incredibly well-deserved run of results at Donington Park meant Ash took the lead of the championship at this early stage. A series of tricky races punctuated by incidents and safety cars allowed him to shine, scoring well with two podium finishes backed up with a 5th-place finish.

Senna managed to score points once again, with a 12th-place finish in the opening race, but contact in race two effectively kept the young driver out of the points scoring places for the remainder of the race meeting.

Rounds 7-9 (18-19 May) Thruxton

Ash started Thruxton with a car full of championship ballast, intended to make racing more difficult for him as the current championship leader. This did not stop him scoring greatly in each race though, and even scooping an impressive podium in the third race of the day.

A series of incidents meant life was trickier for Senna, but a dogged effort throughout the day was rewarded with a crucial 15th-place finish in the third race, meaning he was able to add another championship point to his tally.

Rounds 10-12 (15-16 Jun) Croft

As the BTCC teams arrived at Croft it was clear that the track had suffered from recent wet weather and there was a lot of dirt and debris on the track to contend with. It made for some very gritty photograph opportunities, and Ash once again performed above expectations with three points-scoring finishes despite the tricky weather conditions.

Senna also scored three times in his ‘home’ race event, with the car’s underwhelming straight-line performance and a series of mechanical issues in race one meaning he had to work incredibly hard to fight off his competitors.

Rounds 13-15 (29-30 Jun) Oulton Park

As the season approached halfway it was clear the BMWs were going to take a lot of work to beat, and BMR certainly did their part in trying to make life difficult for them, with Ash managing another pair of points-scoring finishes. However, the BMW performance meant Colin Turkington managed the phenomenal feat of scoring two wins plus a further solid points finish in race three, which was won by Stephen Jelley in a different BMW.

Senna struggled to regain track position in the final two races after a disqualification in race one, despite battling well and displaying tremendous race craft.

Rounds 16-18 (3-4 Aug) Snetterton

Snetterton in Norfolk was host to what a large proportion of BTCC fans will remember as the incident of the season, with Ash battling hard for position against a number of cars, ultimately resulting in contact with former teammate Jason Plato and ending up off the track after a valiant fight to combat faster cars down the long straights. He claimed two points finishes during the weekend nonetheless, as once again the BMWs shone at this high-speed track.

Senna had a weekend to forget, with no points scored in race one, and contact in race two ultimately ending his race early and meaning he was on the back foot for race three. Despite that, he managed to fight his way into 10th before contact once again saw him unable to finish that race.

Rounds 19-21 (17-18 Aug) Thruxton

The weather once again played its part at Thruxton, with an inclement qualifying session on Saturday seemingly giving the drivers a chance to use their skills to make up for a speed disadvantage at the fastest track in the UK. However, the track dried up before the end of qualifying, meaning their competitors had a chance to set times on a drying track and the BMR drivers ultimately qualified in the middle of the pack. During the races, Ash managed to score more valuable points as he somehow kept a championship fight alive, but Senna was unable to score in this frustrating weekend for the team, with a final sprinkling of rain in race three coming just too late for the drivers to use that to their advantage.

Rounds 22-24 (14-15 Sep) Knockhill

A trip to the characterful circuit north of the border was a chance for the team to bounce back – and Senna displayed his class with a pair of fantastic points finishes, narrowly missing a podium before contact in race three saw him unable to continue. In the middle of the pack, Ash (still burdened with ballast) struggled a bit more, retiring in race one after contact with Matt Neal. Nevertheless, he still performed above expectations to recover from that and charge his way up through the field to grab a pair of points-scoring finishes for BMR in the remaining races.

Rounds 25-27 (28-29 Sep) Silverstone

Proctor Silverstone race track best uk race circuit list

An amazing qualifying performance from both drivers meant we were treated to a top-ten start for both drivers, however misfortune on race day meant that was the highlight of this tricky weekend. A puncture stifled Ash’s efforts as he ran up as high as 5th in race one, but was eventually classified 24th. He recovered to score a pair of points finishes that afternoon with some amazing race craft and skill in tricky conditions, unlapping himself on a wet track in race three and driving away from the eventual race winner to show his class.

Senna was incredibly unlucky to take away just a single point from a weekend in which he could have scored very highly, had luck gone his way.

Rounds 28-30 (12-13 Oct) Brands Hatch GP

The final meeting of the season saw a return to Brands Hatch in Kent, this time tackling the longer ‘Grand Prix’ layout of the iconic track. A qualifying session of tricky weather conditions and red flags allowed Ash to line up 2nd on the grid. With neither BMR driver now capable of winning the driver’s championship it was all about racing for pride and preying on the caution of those competitors still looking to score championship points. This meant some firm and decisive ‘end of term’ racing, and Ash Sutton had a race weekend he’ll never forget, 11th-place in race one meant he was in a decent position for the start of race two and flew through the pack, overcoming his car’s straight-line deficit, to take the win. He backed those two great races up with another podium, finishing third place in the final race of the year.

Senna performed fantastically too after unfortunately retiring from race one, grabbing another points finish in race two and being drawn as pole position in race three – although ultimately contact in that race meant he was not able to convert that performance into points.

Final driver’s championship results:

Ashley Sutton 8th (233 points)

Senna Proctor 20th (47 points)

Beyond the racing…

Flux Presents

As qualifying finished on Saturday 3rd August all BTCC fans headed over to the campsite marquee, where Adrian Flux hosted a unique Q&A session with Ash Sutton, Josh Cook and Jason Plato, as part of the Flux Presents series.

Read more about that, including what the three drivers said, here https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/motorsport/fluxpresents-full-transcript-snetterton/

Mini Ash and Mini Senna

In the first of our mid-season videos, we took the chance to play a small prank on the two Adrian Flux Subaru Racing drivers. We headed to team BMR’s headquarters with a pair of young hotshot racing drivers and set a challenge for the professionals they’d never forget. See the film and read more here https://www.adrianflux.co.uk/motorsport/mini-ash-mini-senna-simulator-race/

PopBangColour

Our final video of the year took Ash and Senna way past their comfort zone, even though it did involve cars! This time the cars were their paintbrushes as they created portraits of one another and created a stunning artwork of Senna’s 2019 Subaru Levorg, all the while being supervised by PopBangColour. See the video on YouTube now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWTO7VVXjrw

Adrian Flux Motorsport

Adrian Flux Insurance is the UK’s largest specialist motor insurer, with bespoke exclusive policies available for high performance, imported, and modified vehicles.