Ash Sutton admits race day will be “damage limitation”

Defending champion Ash Sutton admits that the Brands Hatch weekend will be one of damage limitation after qualifying in 18th place for the opening race of the weekend.

Sutton headed into the weekend somewhat on the back foot after a truncated pre-season for Team BMR, with the Subaru squad having only completed limited running ahead of the opening round.

Although the quickest Subaru throughout the day, BMR struggled to match the pace of its main rivals, with Sutton the best placed of the Levorgs on the grid.

Team-mates Jason Plato and Josh Price qualified down in 29th and 31st; albeit on a grid covered by less than 1.2secs.

“This was a hard weekend for us last year and even though the car is improved since then, it isn’t quite right,” he said. “It’s just a case of damage limitation and we need to pick up as much as we can.

“We haven’t had much in the way of testing over the winter which hasn’t helped, but Brands Hatch seems to be a car that doesn’t suit the car for some reason and we need to try and look into the reasons why.

“The aim coming here was to try and get into the top 15 and after today, I think that’s what we have to aim for.”