An amazing story of a triple champion and a team that has 7 championships in the last two years

Coming into the 2020 season, Laser Tools Racing had evolved from a highly competitive single car team into a 2 car team with real ambitions. The young guns of Aiden Moffat and Ash Sutton had the 3 big manufacturers of BMW, Honda and Toyota in their sights and the team was hopeful of moving forwards.

Laser Tools, we shouldn’t forget, had been title sponsors from Aiden’s first full foray into the BTCC and seen him develop into the race winning driver he had become. Bringing former Champion Ash Sutton in was a bold move, helped by the fact that both of them were good friends on and off the track. Ash’s experience and professionalism was bound to be a good influence and in that first year it rubbed off.

The team benefitted to the extent that Ash won the Drivers Championship and the Independent Championship. The 3^rd trophy last year came as the team also lifted the Independent Teams Championship.

The team also came 3^rd in the overall Teams Championship behind the big guns of manufacturer backed BMW and Honda. For a first year as a 2 car team that is pretty impressive. Aiden improved too and finished 15^th in the Drivers Championship and 10^th in the Independent Drivers Championship. Throughout the winter of 2020/2021 the team and drivers really gelled together and worked hard for this season where they knew everyone would turn things up a notch to put the independent team down a peg.

At the start of this season it became clear just how much the 2 drivers and team had matured. A 3^rd car was added with Carl Boardley. We saw a new Ash Sutton, comfortable in taking big points every round with limited risk – but still winning races. We saw Aiden pushing Ash and the two working together in qualifying for the teams benefit and a real sense of purpose. Ash’s engineer Tony was a pivotal force in this move as his genius and tactics helped right across the team and everyone who asked for help got it.

As the rounds went on it became increasingly clear that Laser had developed into something far more than in the previous years and the big manufacturers teams noticed it too. There were some “moments” shall we say where Ash and Aiden were clearly targets for little nudges on track and the occasional genuine punt! Despite this, the team continued to dominate the championship with both drivers always on or around the podium unless mechanical or opposition issues got in the way and so it was when we arrived at Brands Hatch for the final round with a slender points lead in 4 championships.

Race 1 and the guys showed that maturity scoring heavy points with Ash 6^th and Aiden 8^th, limiting chief rival Colin Turkington to 7^th. That was one hand on some silverware. Carl, who has struggled with the rear wheel drive this year was a creditable 15^th. Race 2 and Ash again showed maturity taking 6^th and with it the title. Aiden was fuming after contact and a puncture left him a lap down. Then there was Race 3 and all gloves were off. Ash got his foot down and annihilated the opposition for a brilliant win and Aiden was also on fire gaining 10 places in the race to end on a high. Carl was also disappointed after he was run off the track and forced to retire.

The result was that Ash won the Drivers Championship and the Independent Championship and became the youngest ever triple champion in the process. The team also lifted the overall Teams Championship (beating the manufacturers) and the Independent Teams Championship. 4 championships this season and 7 in 2 years. Aiden also improved his stats dramatically and was up from 15^th to 8^th in the overall Drivers standings and from 10^th to 4^th in the Independent Driver’s standings. Carl was 22^nd in the Driver’s Standings and 15^th in the independent list.