

The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship set pulses racing in Scotland this past weekend (August 16/17) as Jake Hill and Tom Ingram scorched their way to the top step of the podium at Knockhill.
Making the annual pilgrimage north of the border for the seventh meeting of the season, the UK’s premier motorsport series delivered a stunning three races in Fife which resulted in two title winners enjoying a share of the spoils.
West Surrey Racing proved to be the cream of the crop during Saturday’s qualifying session as they claimed a remarkable 1-2-3 finish, with Charles Rainford beating Daryl DeLeon and reigning champion Hill to pole position.
After missing the previous round at Croft on medical grounds, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport’s Hill enjoyed the perfect return to tin top action as he claimed a commanding victory in the first of Sunday’s three races.
Both Rainford and DeLeon enjoyed moments out front however it was Hill that stamped his authority on proceedings as he dispatched both drivers in quick succession and then cruised to a second win of the season.
Pole sitter Rainford was able to maintain his pace up front to clinch second place whilst Team VERTU’s Ingram – who had opted to run the medium tyres – passed team-mate Senna Proctor on the run to the chequered flag.
That pre-planned position switch set up Ingram to claim a sublime victory in race two. Utilising the faster soft tyre, while the BMW pairing of Hill and Rainford were on the medium compound, Ingram charged into the lead in the opening laps and then cleared off into the distance.
As the Hyundai i30 N racer romped to a fourth victory of the year, the NAPA Racing UK duo of Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton battled their way up the order to move into second and third respectively.
While Ingram ticked down the laps out front, Sutton spent the final nine laps chipping away at the gap to Cammish. Then, just as Proctor did for Ingram in race one, the Yorkshireman moved over on the run to the finish line to allow Sutton to claim the extra points for second place.
The BTCC then brought the curtain down in Scotland with another captivating contest and just as he had done at the start of the day, Hill ended it standing on the top step of the podium – this being the seventh time in his career he had done so around Knockhill.
Hill started from the front row alongside DeLeon and by the second lap he had slipped down the inside of his team-mate upon entry into Duffus Dip. That would be the last anyone saw of the rear-wheel-drive ace then as he cruised to victory.
Behind him, Cammish elevated himself up to second place and then once again played the team game to allow Sutton – who had come out on top of an almighty duel with Ingram – to finish ahead of him on the run to the line.
However, due to the yellow flags being waved for the stricken BMW of DeLeon, officials reversed the positions post-race after it was deemed that Sutton took the position from Cammish under yellow flag conditions.
That position swap means that Ingram heads back down south with a 17-point lead at the top of the BTCC Drivers’ Championship. Elsewhere, Alliance Racing/Ford and NAPA Racing UK lead the BTCC Manufacturers/Constructors Championship and BTCC Teams’ Championship respectively.
Three wins from three races for Chris Smiley means he and Restart Racing are out front in the Independents Championship whilst DeLeon holds a slender one-point lead over Rainford in the Jack Sears Trophy.
Adding to the Knockhill spectacle over the course of the weekend were a number of full-throttle races on the TOCA support bill.
Fionn McLaughlin, Adam Al Azhari and Rowan Campbell-Pilling each claimed a win apiece in the Wera Tools F4 British Championship certified by FIA while Will Martin and Sebastian Hopkins were victorious in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain.
Over in the Porsche Sprint Challenge Great Britain, Jacob Tofts and Tom Bradshaw were the big winners whilst Nathan Edwards, Josh Porter and Max Edmundson reigned supreme in the VERTU MINI CHALLENGE JCW.
To view the full classification of results from all sessions at Knockhill, CLICK HERE.