Ash Sutton: ‘Where we are is correct for what the boost is doing’

Ash Sutton believes that his British Touring Car Championship qualifying performance at Brands Hatch Indy on Saturday is reflective of where he should be, given his lack of turbo boost.

The NAPA Racing UK driver went into the event with the least boost of any driver in the field – set at just one second per lap – thanks to leading the drivers’ championship standings after the opening weekend.

That meant Sutton failed to get out of his Q1 group on Saturday afternoon at the Kent circuit, leaving him in only 13^th on the grid for the opening race on Sunday.

Whilst Sutton acknowledged being slightly cautious, he admitted to TouringCars.Net that he had expected it would be difficult to get into the top dozen in qualifying.

“I was maybe a little bit safe on my lap in Q1 which cost us pushing through to Q2, but ultimately the TTB [TOCA Turbo Boost] qualifying deployment is doing its job,” said Sutton. “The one second I have in qualifying has done its job.

“We said before we went out that pushing through to Q2 would be our goal – if we could do that it would be lovely.

“The top ten was the ultimate place we wanted to be and we’re just outside that; it is what it is. Watching what Tom [Ingram] could do was a little bit of a surprise and isn’t ideal, but we believe where we are is correct for what the TTB should be doing.”

Sutton also was not surprised with the upturn in pace demonstrated by his BMW rivals.

“The BMWs work well here – off the last corner, through Druids, in the traction zones and so on. The resurfacing, which has helped everyone, will help the rear-wheel drive cars a little bit more just in those two corners.

“Look at last year when Colin [Turkington] put it on pole quite comfortably with Adam Morgan alongside – it was a BMW 1-2 then – so we’re not surprised by that.”

Sutton is nonetheless optimistic of making up some ground in the opening race, before pressing on further thereafter.

“We need to work out what’s the best way of scoring some points tomorrow and if we can make positions up in race one.

“Of course we’ll give it a go, but we’ve got to work out what tyre we’re going on first.”