“Coming off the back of Donington was when I felt we were in a really good place. The car, me mentally, the team were fully behind me, NAPA were fully behind me. That was kind of the point where I thought, ‘Right, this is mine to lose. I just need to really focus on keeping out of trouble, keeping my nut down and doing the best job I can.’”
The words are Ash Sutton’s, while pondering when he thought he might be looking in a strong position to win his fourth British Touring Car Championship title. And the cynics among you may think he’s referring to Donington round one, way back in April, when he exhibited scarily quick pace in the much-reworked Ford Focus ST. The NAPA-clad Motorbase Performance crew had presented Sutton and his team-mates with absolute weapons, and it was only the first of three what we might call ‘early-race missteps’ of the 2023 season that prevented him leaving the Leicestershire parkland circuit with the championship lead.
But Sutton is actually alluding to Donington round eight, in late August. And here is where the irony creeps in: yes, he scored a pole position, a win and a second as the Grand Prix loop appeared on the BTCC calendar for the first time since 2002, but it was one of the places where that scarily quick pace looked less in evidence than at most venues. And, whisper it, he was even overtaken on genuine pace for the lead – and victory – by a rival in the form of reigning champion Tom Ingram and his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback.
“HERE’S WHERE THAT PHENOMENON OCCURRED: WHAT I S COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS CHAMPION’S LUCK”
Excelr8, of course, hadn’t been standing still over the winter either, and a package of refinements to the Hyundai had left Ingram in confident as quick as the Ford overall. And when he beat Sutton to the chequered flag in race two, Ingram had cut the gap to 40 points with seven races still remaining. If another Sutton misstep happened…
