Ash Sutton pleased to open 2024 win account

Ash Sutton was left over the moon after claiming his first win of the season to maintain his lead at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings at Thruxton.

The Alliance Racing driver scored his eighth podium of the campaign in a tame opening encounter before then valiantly hanging on to fifth place after sustaining damage in race two.

Lining up in fourth for the finale at the Hampshire venue, the 30-year-old hustled his Ford Focus up the order to claim a 40th career win in the UK’s premier motorsport series.

“Finally we’ve got that monkey off our back,” said Sutton. “We’ve not really had the fastest car this season but this weekend it has felt mega, and much like it felt last year. To come away from the weekend with our first win is mega and a great reward to the whole team.

“It was great to make progress in race one despite having a small amount of hybrid and then in race two we had strong pace but contact with Jake at the Complex broke the front splitter.

“The team did a mega job to get the car back together for race three because it was a mess. I had a horrendous start but we had plenty in the tank to make our way forward. We’ve managed to hold on to the championship lead however that means we’re going to be down on hybrid when we get to Oulton Park – which I’m not looking forward to!”