Defending British Touring Car champion Ash Sutton was left slightly frustrated after൩ qualifying fifth for Sunday's first Thruxton race, but 🧔is positive over the progress his NAPA Racing squad are making with the Ford Focus.

Sutton🍨 produced a time just over 0.2s seconds shy of Josh Cook's pole position lap🌸 in Saturday's qualifying and felt he could've matched that time if he strung all of his best sectors together.

"There was definitely more there. It was a bit fr💮ustrating on my side. We know there was another 0.2s there if I put the sectors together," Sutton told m♛ahbx.com.

"If noꦐ one else had anything in the bag, that should’ve been pole. I locked up on the final chicane on one lap and then we went green and purple again and Chilton was facing the wrong way at Church, so both laps got hurt, which was a shame.

"A bit frustrating buܫt I’m overall positive that we’re going in the right direction with 🐻everything."

Having struggled with the balance of his Ford Focus since joining the Motorbase Performance squad for 2022, Sutt💝on feels they've 'got a better steer of the car' this weekend.

"I thiꦿnk we’ve got a bit of a better steer on the car this weekend. The true test is tomorrow [Sunday]. I think when we go into race mode it’s managing that tyre degra🙈dation to the other FWD cars," Sutton continued.

"We can’t really include the RWD cars with that. Toda💮y [Saturday] has been a good day but it’s all about race day.

"With the fe🔯edback and feeling we’re getting today, it’s a positive going into Sunday. But until we get running and we’re under that pressure of putting the car through constant hard graft, we won’t really know."