Sutton ends pole drought in rainy qualifying

Four-time British Touring Car Championship title winner Ash Sutton took his first pole position since the 2023 season finale for the fourth round at Thruxton.

Sutton, the 2025 championship leader, proved the master of extremely wet conditions at the wheel of his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST, and set the pace in each of the three rounds of qualifying.

The soaking track negated the disadvantage carried by Sutton of being allowed just one second per lap of TOCA Turbo Boost as the points topper, and likewise it was Tom Ingram, the 2022 champion and current points runner-up, who joined him on the front row on three seconds of TTB.

Sutton’s eventual margin over the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback was 0.294 seconds – and, extraordinarily, he was just five seconds off the qualifying lap record thanks to the grippiness of the Goodyear wet-weather tyres.

“Thruxton in the dry is lively enough,” he said, “but Thruxton in the wet is a completely new level.

“The team gave me a great car from the get-go; the thing was on rails.

“If anything, I thought there was more time to come, but it’s how much of a brave pill you want to take. As always, ‘Tingers’ kept me honest but I’m pleased with that.”

Ingram felt that most, if not all, of his time was bled as he sped out of the chicane at the end of the lap – the Hyundai aquaplaned, and Ingram was on the grass just before he crossed the timing line.

As usual, Sutton’s Alliance Ford team-mate Dan Cammish took a step forward when it mattered to end up third, just 0.020s adrift of Ingram. He had his own moment at the chicane on his final lap after a late red flag, although an improvement may not have been on the cards anyway.

Through Q1 and Q2, the only driver to get within a second of Sutton or Ingram was Mikey Doble, and the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra hotshoe – a first-time winner last time out at Snetterton – continued that good form to place fourth, just 0.5s away from pole.

BTCC rookie James Dorlin did an excellent job to make Q3 for the first time, and planted his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport fifth on the grid.

Another to impress was Senna Proctor, the Excelr8 Hyundai driver having his first BTCC outing since 2021 and making it into the Quick Six shootout, only to cause the red flag when a power loss stranded him on the circuit.

Dorlin’s late Q2 effort knocked reigning champion Jake Hill out of the Quick Six, and the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport driver was also subsequently eclipsed by Tom Chilton’s Excelr8 Hyundai for seventh spot.

Completing the top 10 in Q2 were Gordon Shedden (Speedworks Toyota) and Dan Rowbottom (Alliance Ford).

Q1 was interrupted by a heavy accident for Josh Cook, who ran wide in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R at the ultra-fast Village sweeper and, his pace unabated across the wet grass, slammed into the barriers with the right-front of the car.

Cook limped away from the Honda, with what was reported to be a sore ankle.