Sutton untouchable in Thruxton BTCC qualifying

Ash Sutton claimed his first pole position of the British Touring Car Championship season by mastering the wet conditions at Thruxton.

The NAPA Racing UK driver was the only driver to break the 1m21s barrier, posting a fastest lap of 1m20.786 in the six-car pole position shootout.

Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram was second quickest, 0.294s off Sutton, despite running wide on the exit of the final corner on his quickest lap. Dan Cammish made it two NAPA Ford Focus STs in the top three with third, 0.314s off his teammate, while Mikey Doble continued to impress in the independent Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra in fourth.

James Dorlin was fifth to claim his best qualifying result of his BTCC career, having made it to the final part of qualifying for the first time, while Senna Proctor completed the Q3 runners in sixth, despite failing to set a time after stopping on the approach to final chicane with a loss of power on his first proper lap.

Sutton was fastest in a dry first practice session of the day, then dominated his Q1 group and Q2, while Ingram topped the first of the two 12-car Q1 groups, then took second in Q2 behind Doble.

Tom Chilton was the first of the drivers to miss out on Q3, his final Q2 time being only good enough for seventh – and only the top six advancing – despite setting personal best times in the first two sectors.

Reigning champion Jake Hill joined him in not progressing, his Laser Tools-backed West Surrey Racing BMW struggling with aquaplaning more than the front-wheel-drive cars he was up against.

Q2 also knocked out Gordon Shedden, Dan Rowbottom, Charles Rainford – who had an off on his final lap – and Dexter Patterson.

The biggest early exit came with just over a minute to go of the second Q1 group, when Josh Cook ran wide at Goodwood then slammed into the barriers. The Thruxton race win record holder – having won 10 times at the track in the south of England – was fifth at the time of the crash, which caused a red flag, but was later dropped down the order by late times by Hill and Chilton when the session resumed.

While able to get out of the car under his own power, Cook was taken to a local hospital after complaining of ankle pain.

Behind the lead six of Sutton, Ingram, Cammish, Doble, Dorlin, and Proctor, Chilton will start the first race of Sunday from seventh, ahead of Hill, Shedden and Rowbottom.

Rainford will line up 11th, with Patterson 12th, Darryl DeLeon 13th, and Cook 14th. Daniel Lloyd will start 15th ahead of fellow Hyundai driver Adam Morgan, who exited Q1 following an off between Segrave and Noble after getting caught out by a puddle and a light touch with the outside barrier.

Chris Smiley will start 17th, ahead of Max Hall, Stephen Jelley, and Aidan Moffat, with Sam Osborne, Ronan Pearson, Aron Taylor-Smith, and Nicolas Hamilton completing the grid.

Nick Halstead didn’t take part qualifying for Power Maxed Racing after receiving minor medical treatment after first practice.

RESULTS

All three of Sunday's races will be shown live on RACER Network, with Race 1 at 6:45am ET, Race 2 at 9:35am ET, and Race 3 at 12:00pm ET.