Ash Sutton took a storming victory in the British Touring Car Championship‘s Round 11 at Oulton Park, leading Tom Ingram by 19 seconds at the flag.
Starting from P7, the four-time Drivers’ Champion quickly dispatched the likes of Árón Taylor-Smith, Ingram, and Josh Cook to fly away from the field.
“We wanted to stretch out a gap for if there’s an imaginary penalty,” Sutton told BTCC media.
“In case one comes along, so we aim to go above 10 seconds.
“But at the same time, when you’re racing cars that are on a hard tyre, I mean, no other soft car got through, so it’s quite easy to stretch out a big gap like that.
I had a load of button, they didn’t. So yeah, I mean, you add the combination together, it’s just a couple of seconds a lap, delta. The tyre is about 1.2 [seconds per lap] and the boost round here is about 8 tenths. So you can really stretch out a gap quite quickly.
“And obviously they’re in a heap of battle, I’m not.
“So yeah, I mean, we were just banking on getting a gap for the fact that if there’s a bit of wet weather or a lot of wet weather at the end, I’ve got a load of margin to play with.”
Rain did arrive as Race 2 arrived at its closing stages, though Sutton could afford to play it as safe as possible to avoid trouble..
“I backed off massively on the last few laps. There’s no point risk[ing it]. I would look like a fool, wouldn’t I, if I locked up, put it in the gravel.”
Race 2 a welcome bounce-back after Race 1 wars for Ash Sutton
While Race 2 was rosy and comfortable for the NAPA man, he was involved in two separate incidents during Sunday’s opener.
Contact with Cook saw Sutton sent wide at Cascades, while hard racing with Adam Morgan saw him sent wide at Hislops.
“In the previous one, we were just stuck in a bit of a train, no boost. The car was a bit beaten up. She wasn’t really square anymore.
“So if we was able to stay near the front, we would have been in a much better position.
“But look, it’s one of those. It is what it is. It’s touring car racing, but we bounced back.”
Bounce back he did. Victory in Race 2 marks Sutton’s fifth of 2026, as he hunts for his record-breaking fifth Drivers’ Championship. Remarkably, it is also his tenth podium from 11 races.
“We’re maximising everything. Fastest lap, lead laps, etc. You’ve got to. You never know when your bad day’s going to come.”
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