Ash Sutton splashes to BTCC pole position at Thruxton

Ash Sutton claimed his first pole position of the 2025 British Touring Car Championship season after producing a masterful lap in soaking conditions at Thruxton.

In what proved to be a wet and wild session around the high-speed Hampshire venue, the four-time champion was the star of the show as he danced his Ford Focus ST to the top times in each portion of qualifying – capping it off by heading the way in Q3.

Behind Sutton, Tom Ingram ensured that the top two in the championship will lock out the front row for race one tomorrow as he finished just two tenths shy of the Alliance Racing driver.

Dan Cammish, who was on pole position last time out at Snetterton, underlined the pace of the Ford in wet conditions as he finished in third place, ahead of standout Independent Mikey Doble was fourth in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra for the second meeting in a row.

While the wet conditions were mastered by some, others found themselves in strife – not least One Motorsport’s Josh Cook.

Lighting up the timesheets early on in the session, the Honda Civic Type R driver ran wide at the exit of Goodwood and eventually made heavy contact with the barrier at Village.

That curtailed his session immediately and has meant that he has gone to a nearby hospital for precautionary checks.

Others to not make it out of the opening segment of qualifying included the Restart Racing duo of Daniel Lloyd and Chris Smiley, who had originally been fastest in final practice – albeit in dry conditions.

Back at the front, James Dorlin clinched a career-best qualifying of fifth in Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla while Senna Proctor completed the top six on his return to the series. Proctor did however grind to a halt towards the end of Q3 with a technical issue.

Rounding out the top ten was Tom Chilton, reigning champion Jake Hill, multiple title winner Gordon Shedden and Dan Rowbottom.