Knockhill is a roller coaster of a track, and the BTCC in 2023 has already been a roller coaster of a journey. Ash Sutton was the man who walked away from the rain-drenched weekend with his head held highest and a race-three win helped him to a healthy 37-point buffer at the top of the table in his NAPA Racing Ford Focus
Tom Ingram won the opening race before his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai failed a rideheight test, which handed the win to Jake Hill in his MB Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport. Hill took race two’s spoils under stern pressure from Sutton, but it was the latter’s race three, where he zoomed clear to win by almost 10 seconds on a sodden circuit, which really put the dark clouds over his rivals’ campaigns.
There are nine races to go and it appears that Sutton is in such form that be might even deny fans the final-day showdown at Brands. He could well have the trophy in his locker even before then.
Race 1
The script for the qualifying session at Knockhill was a familiar one, with NAPA Racing again dominating proceedings with Sutton taking top slot, despite having missed much of the track time in free practice two when the damper broke on his Ford Focus, a legacy of the high kerbs at the Fife track. He lined up ahead of Josh Cook’s One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R with Hill third for WSR and Rory Butcher fourth after the 10-minute shootout.
The Scottish track often delivers drama, and the opening race was one of those that will go down as a BTCC classic. Rain arrived halfway through the action and that left drivers in a quandary – should they maintain track position and plough on with unfavourable slicks, or take a punt and pit for wets? It was a situation that almost mirrored the
