Sutton 'could go hell for leather' for Thruxton pole lap

Sutton maintained his rampant run by claiming his second pole of the year, which has seen the three-time BTCC champion accelerate into an eight-point lead ahead of defending champion Tom Ingram.

Having narrowly missed out on successfully defending his drivers' title last season, Sutton admitted to 'working on himself' over the winter, which he believes has resulted in a 'better car and driver' combination for the 2023 campaign.

"The car is in a good place and I’m in a good place. I worked a lot on myself over the winter. We were chasing things last year. I questioned myself as to whether I needed to improve," said Sutton.

"Ultimately, we’ve got a better car and a better driver and it’s all ticking.

"We just had a bit of bad luck at round one. We came away with a podium in round one, but it was just damage limitation all weekend. We turned up at Brands Hatch, reset and turned up at Snetterton just off the momentum and it’s been exactly the same here."

Heading into qualifying, Sutton took a back seat during free-practice and trailed Josh Cook's best lap by almost 0.6s, but the Ford driver remained confident the performance was there to be utilised when it mattered.

"I’m really confident we had that pace in the car – I just didn’t want to scare myself in FP1 and FP2!" Sutton quipped.

"There’s an element of risk here. The car got into a place where I could go hell for leather and push, and that’s what we did in qualifying. 

"First lap out put us in the position that were in. Some circuit furniture was being moved around at the final chicane, so the lap times were getting quicker!

"We had to go out because we knew there was a bit left on the table from myself. I went and did an OK lap. Obviously, it’s pole but we had a big old moment at Church, so we lost a little bit, but sectors 1 and 2 were mega."

Mindful of the threat both the Hyundai of Ingram and Honda of Cook pose from second and third, Sutton explained that race one will be a balancing act of looking after the tyres, while protecting his position in the lead.

"We’re going to have to play around with the car. There was a couple of things we were working on in FP1 and FP2. We’ve dialled the car in now and we can put a race set up on it, not too dissimilar from qualifying set up," the Ford driver continued.

"We need to make the tyres last. Tom and Josh are going to be gunning for it. So, it’s going to be a bit of management to cover them off and looking after the tyres."