Written by Cameron Gale, edited by Ishani Aziz
As the British Touring car season just resumed last weekend after a long break let’s see how rounds 16,17 and 18 went from Scotland's premier racing track Knockhill.
In qualifying the West Surrey Racing BMW of Jake Hill managed to get pole with a stunning 50.726 lap which was 0.206 ahead of Ash Suttons Ford Focus ST. This was his highest finish this season. In third came another West Surrey Racing entry but this time it was none other than Colin Turkington who got third. In Fourth place came the Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsports Adam Morgan in his BMW 330e M sport. In fifth came the final West Surrey racing entrant of Stephen Jelly who was a surprising 0.377 off Jake Hill’s time. Sixth came a surprising George Gamble with his career best qualifying. Seventh came the first of the Toyota Gazoo Racing entrants, Rory Butcher. In eighth It was Tom Ingram who was championship leader going into this race. In ninth it was Aiden Moffat in his Infiniti. Rounding out the top 10 we have Dan Cammish. The top 10 was only separated by half a second.
Round 16 would be a great race as there were battles across the field. Most notably the battle at the front which was between Jake Hill and Ash Sutton. Sutton managed to get down the inside at Duffers dip after Jake Hill had to compromise his run down the hill as he was on the outside.There would also be a few incidents during the race. The first one came from BTC racings driver Jason Plato who spun coming out of Clark. Hill however who was still close behind Ash Sutton managed to do a little switch back on him and slipped down his inside at Duffers Dip and take a full 26 points ( fastest lap gave him 1 extra point).
In Round 17 Jake Hill had yet another great start. However others behind would struggle to make good progress in the first few corners as one of the Motorbase Performance cars went off through the grass as they came down Leslie’s and through Scotsman. There would be more drama at the start as Jake Hill ran wide coming out of the Arnold Clark Chicane giving Ash Sutton the only invitation he needed and he went straight up the inside. George Gamble and Rory Butcher would have an excellent battle going starting at Duffus Dip and going through Leslie’s and finishing off at Scotsman as Rory Butcher would eventually get down the inside of the Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport Driver. Jake Hill would make yet another mistake going through the Arnold Clark chicane giving his teammate Colin Turkington third place for half a lap but Colin would run wide going down through Leslie’s which gave Hill second place as he chased after Ash Sutton who was in first place. As they came through for the final lap Hill was just short of 3 tenths behind Sutton but he would gain all that time as it would be a photo finish across the line and Sutton would claim it by a very small margin.
Round 18 didn’t produce any good battles at the front as George Gamble would lead from start to finish but championship Contenders Tom Ingram and Gordon Shedden would have a bit of a battle going through Butchers which inevitably pushed Ingram out wide and he went down to 19th. He would recover to 12th but that wouldn’t be enough to give him the championship lead he needed and Turkington would lead the championship for the first time this season. Jake Hill made the same mistake he was making through the Arnold Clark Chicane in round 17 he went wide and this time Ash Sutton went up the inside yet again meaning Hill had lost out on some valuable points for the drivers championship.
After three Exhilarating rounds the Drivers Championship would look like this.
Colin Turkington with 227 points
Tom Ingram with 222 points
One point behind was Ash Sutton with 221 points
Jake Hill with 213 points
Josh Cook with 204 points
Rory Butcher with 170 points
Gordon Shedden with 162 points
Dan Lloyd with 131 points
Adam Morgan with 108 points
Stephen Jelley rounds out the top 10 with 107 points.
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