Ash Sutton hails mega Oulton Park qualifying result

Ash Sutton is excited by his race day prospects at Oulton Park after qualifying on the front row for the first of today’s three British Touring Car Championship races.

Despite only having one second of hybrid deployment to utilise virtue of his lofty position in the standings, the Alliance Racing driver produced yet another standout performance to clinch second on the grid for race one.

Coming off the back of scoring victory at Thruxton – and with the prospect of race three being his 250th in the series – the Ford Focus racer is eager to utilise the strengths of his car to bag three strong results in Cheshire.

“If someone had offered me the front row at the start of the weekend, I’d have been delighted,” said Sutton after Saturday’s qualifying session. “It’s a mega result for me and everyone at NAPA Racing UK.

“We’re just over a tenth behind Tom, so if you consider the hybrid deficit then it’s clear we have a very fast race car.

“We’ve been particularly strong at the start so if we can get a battle on with Tom that will be ideal, but I’ve also got two team-mates directly behind me. We’ve continued our record of making it through to Q3.”