Sutton tops the standings after the first two race weekends, despite not claiming any victories in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST.
Last year he claimed a record-equalling fourth BTCC title and also tied the season-record wins tally of 12, initially set by Alain Menu in 1997.
Not only has the power boost from hybrid and turbo been doubled for 2024, with restrictions for those in the leading positions in the championship, but new tyre rules mandate the top 10 from race one of a weekend using the hardest available compound from their allocation for race two.
Speaking at Brands Hatch after claiming his sixth podium finish in six races, Sutton told Autosport: “The wins are going to be harder to come by, the way that the rules work.
“We could have put a soft on in race one and maybe challenged [Sutton used the medium tyre and finished third], but it would have been tough.
“The points have been really, really good. Six out of six podiums – it’s phenomenal.
“The way we’re going to see the championship work is it’s going to go back to the years of ballast, where the championship contenders don’t qualify so well, then struggle in race one.
“And the way the rule works now where you have to use the harder tyre for race two, it’s very hard to carry yourself forward in that race.
“You’ve got to have your stars perfectly aligned or maybe lucky with a reversed grid on tyre choice or something like that.”
