Ash Sutton: “The car was on absolute rails”

Reigning British Touring Car Championship title holder Ash Sutton admitted his Ford Focus felt like it ‘was on rails’ after he secured a spot on the second row of the grid for race one at Brands Hatch.

The NAPA Racing UK driver emerged as one of the standout performers in qualifying at the Kent circuit as he guided his front-wheel-drive machine to fourth place, despite having only a small amount of hybrid deployment virtue of his position in the championship standings.

“The car was on absolute rails,” said Sutton. “In FP1 the car felt great however because we didn’t run new tyres in FP2 we had a little question mark hanging over us heading into qualifying.

“Making it to the Quick Six was the ultimate goal, especially given the hybrid that we had available to us, so to be sitting on the second row for race one is a bonus. I thought it was going to be impossible as we were on the cusp of going out in Q1.

“Between Q1 and Q2 we made a slight set-up change, I looked at myself and we found some more time. I’m over the moon with the result and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow.”