Ashley Sutton set a sensational pace in Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship qualifying at Donington Park, producing a new lap record on his way to taking pole position for Adrian Flux Subaru Racing.
The Subaru squad had been off the pace during the opening BTCC weekend at Brands Hatch, and seemingly struggled again during this morning’s practice sessions at the Leicestershire circuit, but young gun Sutton produced heroics to take the spoils when it really mattered.
Sutton’s Levorg was wrestled around the 1.98-mile National circuit for a series of early flying laps, as the Japanese was flung one way, and then the other, in expert fashion. One of Sutton’s benchmark lap times was scrubbed off after he was adjudged to have exceeded track limits, but the Essex driver would not be denied as he went even faster on his next tour.
The result is a welcome boost for the manufacturer-backed outfit, with Sutton evoking memories of his maiden BTCC pole position, which took place at the same venue a year ago.
“It was just a case of piecing a lap together,” enthused Sutton. “We’ve managed to pick at the setup throughout practice and that was the first time we’d been out on new tyres. We hadn’t shown what we can do and we’ve hit the nail on the head when it mattered!
“We didn’t know what we were capable of but it paid off. You always arrive aiming to be on pole, so to achieve that is fantastic. The guys have worked hard, day and night, every day of the week. It’s nice to reward them with pole. We’ll kick on from here tomorrow with no weight on board and see what we can do.”
Handy Motorsport’s Rob Austin backed-up his practice pace by completing the front row on the grid for tomorrow’s opener, just 0.102s of Sutton’s new 1:09.412s record.
“After going quickest in FP1, we knew we had the pace,” said Austin. “That also meant I put myself under a lot of pressure in qualifying – and to be truthful, I made a mess of it for the majority of the session! Thankfully we came good in the end.”
The young quartet of Jack Goff (Eurotech Racing), Tom Ingram (Speedworks Motorsport), Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing) and Jake Hill (TAG Racing) had also shown serious promise during the earlier sighter sessions, and they delivered again in qualifying to complete the top six positions.
Halfords Yuasa Racing will line-up on the fourth row of the grid with Matt Neal getting the better of his reigning champion team-mat Gordon Shedden. Scotsman Shedden will be pleased with his lap, however, as the standings leader hauled his Honda Civic Type R around with maximum success ballast on board.
Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing’s Michael Epps took ninth, which nicely followed his trio of top ten finishes at Brands Hatch last time out, whilst Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan completed the top ten order.
It was a mixed session for a number of the BTCC’s normal title protagonists, most notably for Ulsterman Colin Turkington. The Team BMW set a time good enough for a respectible 12th on the grid, but his session ended early when a water leak struck his 125i M Sport. The episode brought about the only red flag period of the day as a number of cars spun off at the Old Hairpin, where Turkington’s BMW had dropped its water.
A huge crowd is expected to descend on Donington Park tomorrow, with many, many more watching the action live and exclusively on ITV. The triple header of BTCC races are set to begin at 11:35, 14:35 and 17:20 respectively.
2017 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Qualifying – Donington Park
1 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing 1m09.412s (102.64mph)
2 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +0.102s
3 Jack GOFF (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.143s
4 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +0.298s
5 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.316s
6 Jake HILL (GBR) TAG Racing +0.325s
7 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.341s
8 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +0.391s
9 Michael EPPS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +0.407s
10 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +0.495s
11 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +0.521s
12 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.527s
13 Aron TAYLOR-SMITH (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.545s
14 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.583s
15 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +0.586s
16 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +0.620s
17 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.630s
18 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance +0.737s
19 Josh COOK (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +0.782s
20 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat with Duo +0.793s
21 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +0.799s
22 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +0.838s
23 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +0.878s
24 Dave NEWSHAM (IRL) BTC Norlin Racing +0.903s
25 James COLE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +0.983s
26 Will BURNS (GBR) Autoaid/RCIB Insurance Racing +1.015s
27 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +1.080s
28 Martin DEPPER (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +1.256s
29 Luke DAVENPORT (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo +1.263s
30 Josh PRICE (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +1.279s
31 Ant WHORTON-EALES (GBR) AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts +1.285s
32 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport +1.296s
