Brilliant Sutton’s fireworks earn him the crown
Ash Sutton knew the 2020 British Touring Car Championship title was beginning to fall into his lap when he saw the forecast for last weekend’s finale on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit. “Weather-wise, I was always gunning for rain,” he said as he stood on the grass by the starting grid, basking in the success of his second overall crown, holding that trophy he’d been shooting for.
What he – and Colin Turkington, the four-time champion whose points advantage he overturned at the last stage – won’t have known was that there was another omen. As Autosport made its way to Brands on Sunday morning amid torrential rain, there was a safety car – er, sorry, restricted speed limit – in the West Surrey section of the M25, thanks to a smashed-up BMW in the central barrier. OK, Turkington didn’t crash his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport on the day, although he would avoid a massive shunt thanks to incredible reflexes, but it was a premonitory metaphor for his broken dreams.
As it is, Sutton pulled off what few could have predicted before the belated start to the 2020 season. His old crew from his Subaru days at BMR Racing had merged with BTCC minnow Laser Tools Racing, working together on the Infiniti Q50 project that only started in the summer of 2019 as a replacement for LTR’s old Mercedes. “I knew the Infiniti would be a better race car than the Mercedes,” said Laser Tools chief Bob Moffat, his team also celebrating both Independent crowns. “But to get to where we’ve got in such a short time is incredible. Ash, you’d argue, is the best driver in the
