Ash Sutton topped the times at last month’s Thruxton test day, smashing the high-speed circuit’s qualifying lap record in the process.
But the reigning BTCC champion, who lies fifth in the early-season title race, has more modest aims for this weekend’s return to the Hampshire track.
Teething troubles with the new Swindon engine have left his Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Levorg down on pulling power.
And the 24-year-old will be more than happy with a repeat of last season’s showing at the fastest track on the calendar, when he accumulated a healthy points haul with sixth, eighth and sixth placed finishes.
“… I think we have a good shout of [top 10] with the weather forecast to be dry”
“I’m not 100 per cent sure how we are going to fare in the speed traps – I have got a feeling it’s going to be in the bottom half – so the aim is going to be very much the same as last year,” he said.
“It would be nice to replicate that, but I think we will try to aim for top 10, and I think we have a good shout of that with the weather forecast to be dry.
“Until we get to FP1 and FP2 we don’t know how much sandbagging went on at the test day, but I expect we’ll see the Mercedes, Focus and any of the Hondas on the front end.”
Sutton believes Thruxton’s flowing, high-speed corners will partly negate the Subaru’s lack of engine power, with the rear wheel drive cars hunting down the flying front wheel drive cars’ through the race.
“Thruxton is all about momentum and maintaining a high average speed,” he said. “We may not have the ultimate straight line speed, but the fact we can carry the momentum through the corners means the engine power won’t be half as bad as on tight circuits, where you can get held up through a corner and can’t use your power to pull yourself out of that situation.
“I would still expect someone in a front wheel drive car to stick it on pole with outright pace, but it’s a bit of a Catch 22 because during the race there’ll be much less tyre degradation with the rear wheel drive cars.”
Still in a better position compared with last year…
Despite failing to climb on to the podium yet this season, Sutton remains happy sitting just 22 points behind championship leader Tom Ingram, with a run of tracks to come which should suit the Subaru.
“We’re still in a much better position than we were this time last year,” he said. “The team’s working fantastic and we’re learning from mistakes made in previous years, including me as a driver. We’re using all that experience and it’s falling into place.
“After this weekend we fall into tracks that suit us, like Oulton Park, Croft and Snetterton. It falls into place for us in a rear wheel drive car. That’s the main positive we’ve got to look forward to after this weekend.
“It’s about collecting the points, like last year, so we don’t take too many steps backwards and then go again when it’s more favourable to us.”
Qualifying is live on ITV.com/BTCC from 3pm on Saturday, with racing live on ITV4 from 11.15am on Sunday.
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