BTCC The Contenders- Ash Sutton

After a dominant 2023, Sutton and Ford were reeled back in for 2024 by their rivals. But finishing third place by seasons end with only a quarter of the wins he managed to score the previous season, where does this leave the NAPA Racing Driver heading into 2025?

After a nine-year karting stint from 2000 to 2009, he began competing in the Formula Vee Championship where he was awarded rookie of the year and finished 4th in the overall championship, he went on to join the Ford Fiesta ST Cup in 2011. Unfortunately, a road car accident forced him to be withdrawn from racing for the next two and a half years.

After a long recovery period, he briefly went back to karting in 2013 in the London Cup before joining the Formula Ford Championship GB in 2014 where he finished an impressive 3rd despite missing all three Donighton rounds and being unable to start in the final race in Rockingham. He claimed five wins that season and stood on the podium sixteen times in the 26 races he competed in. He then switched over to the Renault Clio Cup UK for the 2015 season where he went on to win the title with six wins and fourteen podiums in 18 races.

In March 2016 it was announced he would make his BTCC debut with MG Racing RCIB Insurance where he immediately impressed taking a fourth in his first race and a win in a rain affected third race in Croft. After the season, Sutton was announced to be joining the Adrian Flux Subaru Racing Team. Despite a horrid opening round in Brands leaving him pointless he made a come back throughout the rest of the season scoring six wins to take title after rival Colin Turkington retired in the final round. This made Sutton the youngest champion since John Fitzpatrick in 1966.

Despite matching his number of wins from the year prior, 2018 saw a significant drop off in the number of podiums from the Subaru driver with almost half the amount of his 2017 total meant he could only claim fourth in the standings even though he had more wins than the top three combined. 2019 saw an even bigger struggle for the 2017 champion, only managing to claim a single win and six podiums that year.

However, a switch to Laser Tools Racing and Infiniti in 2020 saw a resurgence from Sutton where he went on to claim five victories across the year and win his second BTCC title ahead of rival Colin Turkington. He also claimed the independents drivers and teams’ championships in the process before repeating the feat in 2021 matching his number of wins and claiming his third BTCC Drivers title, the Overall Teams Championship as well as claiming both the Independents Drivers and Teams Championships.

2022 saw Sutton move back to a manufacturer entry with NAPA Racing UK and Ford where he would go on to have an intense title fight against rivals Hill, Turkington, and eventual champion Ingram. Sutton placed runner-up claiming three wins and scoring points in all but two races throughout the year.

Sutton in 2023 claimed his fourth title in a dominant display, doubling the win total of anyone else with twelve wins which also ties him for most wins in a season with Alain Menu. This title means he ties Colin Turkington and Andy Rouse in claiming the most number of championships and looked in almost complete control throughout the year. He also claimed podiums in two thirds of the races in 2023 putting him joint third in number of podiums in a season with Frank Biela and Matt Neal. Ford also claimed their first Manufacturer title in 23 years and broke BMW’s seven-year manufacturer championship streak.

Last season saw Ash Sutton and Ford get drawn back to a more level pegging in 2024 as BMW, Hyundai and Toyota all made inroads on them. Despite having a quarter of his previous years win total, Ash Sutton was fighting for the title all year long before a race ending collision with Josh Cook on lap one of the opening race at the Brands Hatch finale saw his record-breaking championship dreams come to an end. He finished the season third place in the standings behind eventual champion Jake Hill and 2022 BTCC champion Tom Ingram.

Despite not winning the title, Ash Suttons early season consistency throughout the year should be noted. Despite having not won a race he stood on the podium every race during the first seven races and was leading the championship leaving Snetterton rounds. However, his significantly lower number of wins throughout the year compared to his two rivals who had claimed eight (Hill) and six (Ingram) wins respectively and that he ended the season with a lower average finish after being caught up in a few very unlucky incidents in the later half of the season meant he could not capitalise on an overall solid performance from himself.

Heading into 2025, Sutton, as always, will be a difficult driver to beat with his focus being clear and a focus on being a five-time BTCC Drivers Champion especially when he has a car in which he is comfortable with so he can maximise every single race.