Ash Sutton tops times at Donington Park season launch
Reigning champion Ash Sutton topped the times in the final official pre-season test for the British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park ahead of next weekend’s 2024 curtain-raiser.
The NAPA Racing UK driver set a best time of 1:07.997s, a little under a tenth of a second faster than team-mate Dan Cammish, in the afternoon session before a late rain shower brought the track action to an early finish.
Tom Chilton and Tom Ingram ended the day hot on the heels of the Ford Focus ST duo as they finished third and fourth on the combined classification, with former champion Ingram pacing the opposition in the morning session.
Dan Rowbottom underlined the pace of the Alliance Racing-run Ford as he completed the top five whilst Jake Hill was the first of the BMWs in sixth, just ahead of the returning Rob Huff who showed plenty of speed the Speedworks-run Toyota Corolla GR Sport.
Colin Turkington, Andrew Watson and Ronan Pearson completed the top ten around the Leicestershire venue.
The event presented the first time that all 20 entrants took to the track as Unlimited Motorsport’s Daryl Deleon completed a solitary installation lap following a busy day of the team applying the finishing touches to its Cupra Leon.
West Surrey Racing’s fourth car was again in attendance however it remained under its covers in the garage, with the search to fill the vacant seat still currently ongoing.
