NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton says beating his chief British Touring Automotive Championship title rival Tom Ingram to the win in race three was ‘essential’ after enduring a ‘dangerous weekend’ at Croft.
The four-time champion bounced again magnificently from his race one woes by profitable an exhilarating remaining race of the day, because of a spectacular transfer for the lead on the expense of each Staff Vertu’s Ingram and West Surrey Racing’s Aiden Moffat.
Sutton executed an opportunistic transfer on the remaining hairpin, the place the Ford driver dived down the within of Ingram and Moffat to grab the lead of the race.
That overtake was made all of the extra spectacular as Sutton accomplished the double-pass while receiving contact from three-time champion Gordon Shedden, who was additionally making an attempt to make the identical transfer instantly behind from fourth place.
Sutton defined the contact between himself and Shedden inflicted a sure diploma of harm to his Ford Focus ST.
“A number of the automobiles are exhibiting that it was a typical race three! It was actually good from our aspect to come back away with that end result,” mentioned Sutton.
“To beat Tom [Ingram] and get these factors was essential. With race one and what went on there was an actual kick within the bottom, so we wanted that.
“It wasn’t simple. We have been nursing a reasonably broken automobile after the contact with Gordon [Shedden] on the final nook.
“We each considered the identical concept on the similar time and sadly two automobiles don’t go properly into that final nook. It was simply a type of.
“We have been 40 levels left hand down, in order that was a little bit of a handful. It made it vigorous around the again of the circuit.”
Regardless of his race three heroics, Sutton was nonetheless left to lament his race one puncture, which price him a possible sixth place end.
Sutton now trails championship chief Ingram by simply 8-points.
“With Tom [Ingram] being three-places forward on the grid, it was by no means going to be simple,” Sutton continued.
“However we simply made the very best of another person’s dangerous scenario and we capitalised with an opportunistic transfer.
“They are saying you win your championship by way of your dangerous races, or dangerous weekends and this weekend was a nasty weekend imagine it or not, regardless of coming away with the win.
“We didn’t want that DNF in race one. If this our dangerous weekend, I’ll take that.”
