Three-in-a-row for NAPA Racing as Ash Sutton grabs pole

Ash Sutton secured his first pole position of the 2023 BTCC season after another all-action qualifying session at Snetterton.

Two red flag stoppages would affect the session and caused plenty of delays before Sutton was able to earn his place at the head of the pack.

The front-wheel drive runners were just looking to put in their first timed laps, with Sutton having moved onto provisional pole, when the session was halted after the Hyundai of Nick Halstead dropped fluid on the circuit at Coram – leading to chaos behind as multiple drivers suddenly found themselves spinning off on the slippery surface.

The BMW of Colin Turkington and Dexter Patterson’s Cupra were amongst those to make contact with the barriers, although everyone was able to recover back to the pits as the clear-up began.

The session resumed after a lengthy stoppage but before anyone had been able to put in a lap, the red flag came back out again after points leader Dan Cammish went off the road going through Hamilton, clattering into the barriers before his car came to a halt on the edge of the circuit at Oggies.

Once the Focus was recovered and the session resumed, what followed was a twelve minute dash for pole that would prove to be chaotic as a number of drivers lost fast laps to track limits.

Out front, Sutton was able to maintain Motorbase’s 100 per cent qualifying record as he became the third different NAPA Racing UK driver to score pole, with a storming lap of 1:54.526s seeing him end up three-tenths of a second clear at the front of the pack.

Tom Ingram would manage to come through to second spot in his Hyundai to secure a solid front-row start ahead of the BMWs of Turkington and Jake Hill.

Hill had managed to get ahead late on before losing his lap to track limits, although the pair were over four-tenths away from pole.

Ricky Collard and Adam Morgan followed behind, with the top ten rounded out by Josh Cook, Rory Butcher, Dan Rowbottom and Stephen Jelley.

Cammish would end up back in 25th spot having lost his only timed lap due to the fact he caused the second red flag, with Halstead and Nic Hamilton also not setting timed laps.

Will Powell only just managed to put times on the board at the end, having lost times to track limits and taken two trips off track during the session.