There’s no question about it: Ash Sutton is one of the all-time greats of the British Touring Car Championship. It’s well-documented already that his 2023 title success aboard his Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST was a record-equalling fourth alongside Andy Rouse and Colin Turkington, and meant that he became the first in BTCC history to win it in rear and front-wheel-drive machinery; the same goes for his matching of Alain Menu’s 1997 record of 12 race wins in a season.
Sutton’s career has been covered extensively in these pages; so too have the achievements of the NAPA-liveried Motorbase/Alliance squad in our in-depth feature of last November. And everyone has an opinion about him. So now, as he gets set to be one of the star guests at this week’s Autosport International show at the Birmingham NEC, it’s time to ask Sutton: what does he think of the main rivals he’s faced in the BTCC? Read on to find out…
TOM INGRAM
There seems to be a lot of respect between 2022 champion Ingram and Sutton: “Yeah there is. Initially when I first got into touring cars we had a few little run-ins together. I think everyone does – it’s touring car racing. We’d give each other the nudge that
