Ashley Sutton expected tough Donington opener

Ashley Sutton admitted he had expected a tough start to race day after finishing fifth in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship opener at Donington Park.

The MG driver had qualified on pole position for the first time after a dramatic session on Saturday afternoon but saw his victory hopes ended as the lights went out in race one; with a fast starting Mat Jackson jumping ahead of both Sutton and team-mate Josh Cook at the start.

The youngster would slip back as far as sixth before recovering a place late on with a move on Rob Collard’s BMW but he insisted that he wasn’t overly surprised with the way things had panned out.

“I kind of expected it a little bit as I’m still working on my starts and we also had some extra weight in the car as well,” he said. “I wasn’t quite happy with the balance as the race went on which didn’t help and there was also an issue with the downshift towards the end that meant I lost a few positions.

“We’ll have to see how things go in the second race as we’ll now be running the soft tyre and I’m not sure it will hold up as well here as it did at Brands Hatch. With some additional ballast onboard, it could be tough.”