Ash Sutton: “Race day showed our potential again”

Ash Sutton said he was pleased to further show the potential of the revamped Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 after securing a second victory of the 2020 BTCC season at Oulton Park.

The 2017 champion was left with work to do on race day after qualifying down in eleventh spot, but was hotly tipped to vault forwards in race one when rain arrived shortly before the start.

Sutton would only manage to climb up to eighth in that opening race having been forced to contend with rising engine temperatures after getting mud in the front of the car, but then stormed to victory in race two after backing up a strong start with a series of impressive overtakes as he worked his way to the front.

Wrapping up the weekend with a fourth place finish in race three, Sutton leaves Oulton Park sitting second in the standings behind Colin Turkington heading to Knockhill for the second of back-to-back events.

“Race one was tough because I had mud thrown up into the radiator and I had to manage oil and water temperatures,” he said. “To be honest, we were only a couple of degrees from having to change the engine, so that was damage limitation. We then made some changes to the car for race two in terms of the balance, and we saw the potential we have.

“I’ve always loved wet conditions when you can dance the car around a bit more and are more on the edge, and it showed on track with how we performed. We have shown we have a great car in the wet and we know we have a good race car in the dry as well. We just need to work on qualifying because that is where we are still lacking a bit and I’m having to overdrive the car to try and get the lap out of it.

“Knockhill next is a circuit that people always says is a rear-wheel drive track but I expect the front-wheel drives to be strong so we’ll have to see how we go. Hopefully there’ll be some rain again….”