Daniella Sutton makes debut at high-speed Thruxton circuit

BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholar Daniella Sutton showed promising speed at her first Thruxton outing, but a Race 1 accident ruled her out of the weekend for a suspected concussion. Despite a challenging season, Sutton has competed well in her first year of circuit racing, making significant progress alongside 20Ten Racing.

Photo credits: James Roberts

BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholar Daniella Sutton made her first start at the challenging Thruxton circuit. Sutton displayed encouraging speed in changeable conditions which saw her qualify inside the top-15 after a disrupted session.

The 20Ten Racing driver was battling hard in the midfield during race one before contact with a competitor forced her to retire, with Sutton medically unfit to continue driving for the remainder of the weekend.

Sutton arrived at Thruxton looking to bounce back from an unfortunate event last time out at Silverstone. After clipping a kerb at Brooklands, Daniella’s car rolled and she was forced to sit out the remainder of the weekend. However, a brilliant job from the 20Ten Racing squad allowed Sutton to return to the grid at Thruxton as she targeted a clean and consistent weekend.

With no prior testing at the circuit prior to the weekend, Sutton was eager to learn the track and make progress across the course of the three races.

The first competitive track action of the weekend took place on Saturday afternoon with the fifteen-minute qualifying session. Conditions were tricky with a damp track and an early red flag limited the number of laps the drivers were able to complete. At the end of the session, Sutton had set the 15th fastest time overall, 12th in the MK7 class, but crucially the 20Ten Racing driver enjoyed a clean session and gained valuable experience at Thruxton.

Ahead of the first race getting underway, a small rain shower had passed over the circuit and therefore the track was damp and treacherous in places. Sutton lined up from 14th on the grid after the car of Archie Davies was not ready to take the start after an incident in qualifying.

Daniella made a good initial getaway and was challenging for positions just outside the top-10 into the opening complex. At the end of lap one, the 20Ten Racing driver was in 15th as positions remained extremely close in the midfield.

Sutton was keen to move forward in the early stages and overtook Billy Blockley on lap two, before losing out to Harry Lindley on lap three. The slipstream effect was proving powerful at Thruxton and after Sutton made a nice move for 14th on Callie Clifford, she had a sizeable gap ahead of her.

This meant her attention was turned to defending her position and despite falling behind Clifford on lap six, she was still running inside the top-15 overall.

Misfortune then struck as contact was made between Sutton and Clifford while Daniella was attempting to move ahead at the Club chicane.

This incident forced Sutton to retire from the race with damage to the car, while she was subsequently taken to the medical centre for suspected concussion. As a result, she was not medically cleared to compete in the remainder of the weekend and will also be forced to miss the season finale at Silverstone on medical grounds.

Although it has been a challenging season as the BRSCC Fiesta Junior Championship scholar, Sutton has competed well in her first year of circuit racing. Her performances at Oulton Park were a particular highlight, while Daniella continued to display confidence at new circuits and in a range of different conditions.

Making significant progress alongside 20Ten Racing, Sutton has acclimatised herself well in her rookie season and she will now be aiming to put together a programme in order to continue her racing journey in 2025.

Photo credits: James Roberts