The Ford BTCC superteam combining two reigning TOCA champions

By:

Marcus Simmons

Apr 21, 2022, 12:52 PM

Reigning BTCC champion Ash Sutton and Porsche Carrera Cup GB victor Dan Cammish form a potent line-up at the Motorbase-run NAPA Racing team as the series adopts hybrid power. With Sutton bringing the key components of his title-winning Laser Tools Racing set-up, and Cammish eager to prove a point on his return, their dynamic is set to be one of the season's major talking points

Subscribe to PLUS Sign in

What are your eyes going to be on during this weekend’s opening British Touring Car Championship event at Donington Park? If you’re a techy anorak, it’ll be the performance of the cars with hybrid power. If you’re an anything-else anorak, it’s surely the progress of three-time and reigning champion Ash Sutton plus returning almost-champion Dan Cammish, united in a new Motorbase Performance Ford Focus superteam running under the banner of NAPA Racing.

Motorbase chief Pete Osborne, who assumed full ownership of the squad in early 2021, has pulled out all the stops here. His son Sam and two-time race winner Ollie Jackson continue in two of the cars, but another pair of brand-new Focuses has been built up for the incoming stars. And there’s one of those funny little small-world, closed-circle stories that are so prevalent in motorsport going on here too.

comments

Marcus Simmons

Twitter

Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.

Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.

The Ford BTCC superteam combining two reigning TOCA champions

More from Marcus Simmons

Latest news

Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.