Sutton denies centurion Turkington

Knockhill, its slow-speed hairpin feeding into an uphill blast across the start-finish line, is renowned as rear-wheel-drive territory. Ash Sutton and Colin Turkington proved that in 2020, when they scored a pair of 1-2s in their respective Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 and West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport. Last weekend the boot was on the other foot in the British Touring Car Championship. This time, it was Turkington soaking up the pressure in race two, driving a defensive masterclass as he repelled everything Sutton could throw at him, the duo keeping it close but clean – entirely as we expect from these two BTCC maestros.

Then, less than a mile from the chequered flag, it all changed. Turkington made the tiniest of errors at the blind chicane, the BMW ran wide onto the gravel, and Sutton was through in a flash. It was a classic case of relentless pressure forcing a result; a perhaps major psychological moment in the ongoing battle between these two champions, as respectful as that is. Turkington had earlier won the opening race, with just 15kg of success ballast on the BMW, but this time, with 75kg on board, he couldn’t better an Infiniti that had 48kg. If he had, that would have represented a major turning of the tide in his recovery from a desperately poor previous two rounds.

As it is, Turkington has now vaulted from ninth to third in the championship standings over one weekend, but has only trimmed his points deficit to Sutton from 37 to 34. Second place is still the property of Tom