The crowning of Ash Sutton as British Touring Car champion for a record-equalling fourth time was a routine exercise at Brands Hatch last weekend. And this he achieved via victory in race one from his only title rival Tom Ingram. Yet for all his often phlegmatic disposition, the tears were flowing, his voice choking as if he’d snatched it in a final-race thriller.
This one means a lot to Sutton, and you expect it to be because, at the age of 29, he’s already joined Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington in the exclusive club of quadruple BTCC kings. Not so. “I don’t plan to leave it at four,” he stated after getting out of his Ford Focus ST. Instead, it’s because of the work that Alliance Racing, the new guise of Motorbase Performance, had put into a NAPA Racing-liveried car that, 12 months ago, he quite frankly never wanted to get into again. And it’s because he’s accomplished something that neither Rouse nor Turkington – or anyone else – has done.
“It’s pretty surreal still at the minute,” mused Sutton several hours later as the Alliance crew cranked up the volume on Neil Diamond while they disassembled their pit garage. “I think the biggest thing for me is being the only driver to do it in front-wheel drive and rear-wheel drive. That’s the bit that’s sunk in properly so far. But it’s when I wake up tomorrow morning, a) with a headache, but b) not living a dream but reality, that’s when I’ll realise what we’ve achieved. This next week’s going to be just soaking up everything we’ve done throughout the year, this weekend, and I just want to thank everyone who’s been involved at the team.”
It has, indeed, been a remarkable
