Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship leader Ash Sutton stormed to pole position in qualifying on the full Donington Park Grand Prix circuit this afternoon.
The session was dominated by the NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST driver and reigning champion Tom Ingram’s Hyundai, but it was Sutton’s late flourish that settled things in his favour, as he topped the times in qualifying for the fifth time this year.
Ingram had set a string of quickest times in the first half of the session, and continued that run after a red flag for Nick Halstead’s spun Hyundai at the Fogarty Essses.
Upon the session resumption, Ingram lowered his benchmark, with Sutton also improving but not able to get quite close enough to steal pole.
But with eight minutes remaining, Sutton showed his hand and a 1m33.199s put him three tenths of a second quicker than anyone else at that point.
Ingram looked poised to challenge that with three minutes remaining, setting overall best times in sectors one and two, but fell short in the final section.
That left things in Sutton’s favour, and he capitalised with a final improvement to shave four hundredths of a second off his best lap to confirm pole, the eighth consecutive achievement this season for the NAPA Racing UK squad.
Ingram had to settle for second, just under two tenths behind in his Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8 Hyundai i30N, whilst Ricky Collard equalled his best qualifying result in third for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK.
Colin Turkington’s late lap put the four-time champion fourth on the grid for Team BMW, 0.041s away from Collard and 0.051s clear of the Carstore Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Aron Taylor-Smith.
Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill settled for sixth after an excursion at the Old Hairpin, a tenth of a second ahead of the One Motorsport with Starline Racing Honda Civic of Jake Cook.
The third BMW 330e M Sport of Adam Morgan was eighth, 0.049s ahead of Ronan Pearson’s Hyundai i30N, with Sutton’s teammate Daniel Rowbottom completing the top-10.
The first BTCC race of the weekend is scheduled to commence at 11.45am tomorrow (Sunday).
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Donington Park GP, Qualifying top-10 result:
1. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, 1m33.154s
2. Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, Hyundai i30N, +0.182s
3. Ricky Collard, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK, Toyota Corolla GR Sport, +0.396s
4. Colin Turkington, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.437s
5. Aron Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing, Vauxhall Astra, +0.488s
6. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.569s
7. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing, Honda Civic Type R, +0.688s
8. Adam Morgan, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.701s
9. Ronan Pearson, Bristol Street Motors with Excelr8, +0.750s
10. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +0.790s
Tickets are available upon arrival at the circuit all weekend, with free entry for children under-13. Click here for full information.