McLaughlin edges closer to British F4 title after dramatic Knockhill weekend

Jake Hill produced a dominant Knockhill weekend with two wins in the British Touring Car Championship, but there was also plenty of action in the support categories.

British F4, Mini Challenge UK, Porsche Carrera Cup GB and Porsche Sprint Challenge GB were all on display at the sunny Scottish venue.

Some drivers extended their championship leads, others series had title rivals colliding, while there was even a maiden race win for somebody across the weekend. Here is everything that happened in the BTCC support events. 

McLaughlin extends British F4 lead despite contact with title rival

Even as he trudged back to the paddock through the grassy Knockhill infield on a baking day north of the border, Fionn McLaughlin couldn’t be too disappointed. Despite race-ending contact with his British Formula 4 title rival Martin Molnar in the final bout, the Hitech TGR driver left Scotland with an even bigger lead at the top of the standings. 

That in itself was a surprise, not least to McLaughlin who began the seventh round of the year on the backfoot, struggling to gel with the tricky 1.2-mile Fife track during testing. The fact that the Irishman ended up with an increased 40.5-point margin heading into the final three rounds perhaps said more about Molnar’s weekend than it did McLaughlin’s. 

From third on the grid for race one, McLaughlin admitted that he would have “been happy enough just to get on the podium” after failing to match the ultimate pace of front-row starters, team-mate Thomas Bearman and Rowan Campbell-Pilling. That realism soon turned to relief as he inherited the win in Saturday’s opener following a jump-start penalty for on-the-road winner Campbell-Pilling. 

Molnar salvaged a damage limitation fifth in race one having fought his way through the field from 10th on the grid, a result of a three-place grid penalty carried over from the Zandvoort round. That would be his best finish of the weekend, however, as the Hungarian could only manage seventh in the second race, won by Rodin’s Adam Al Azhari. 

By the time the pair found each other on track in the finale, Molnar knew he needed to strike quickly as McLaughlin struggled for pace. A divebomb at the hairpin seemed to have done the trick, but wheel-to-wheel contact on exit put both out on the spot: McLaughlin with suspension damage, while Molnar was classified 16th when the red flags came out for Ella Lloyd’s beached Rodin at the Chicane.  

Out front, Campbell-Pilling made amends for his race one frustration by claiming a relatively dominant victory to the tune of 1.632s from polesitter Bearman, finally putting an end to a rotten run of luck which has plagued the Sheffield driver all season. 

“I felt like the lights at the start were on hold for a very, very long time…around seven seconds when in the regulations it’s supposed to be between three and five,” Lamented Campbell-Pilling post-race. “But it’s been a strong weekend, I’m so happy with the win.” 

Dominant Bradshaw puts one hand on Porsche Sprint Challenge GB title 

Tom Bradshaw is romping towards the Porsche Sprint Challenge GB title

Photo by: JEP

Tom Bradshaw understandably cut a bittersweet look at the end of the Knockhill weekend. Two Porsche Sprint Challenge GB wins out of three may have given the Toro Verde GT driver a commanding 30-point cushion in the standings, but erstwhile main title rival Toby Trice was a notable absentee as a heavy qualifying shunt meant he missed all three races.

“It’s another fantastic haul of points again, but it’s just a shame that Toby wasn’t there with us as he’s been amazing all season; it’s not the way I wanted to extend my lead,” said Bradshaw. 

With Trice an unfortunate spectator, Jacob Tofts (Graves Motorsport) took up the mantle as Bradshaw’s nemesis for the weekend and finally converted his strong early season form into a maiden victory in race one, beating Samuel Harvey by just under a second. Tofts initially backed up his impressive performance with a second win in race two, before being demoted to second after the stewards deemed his hairpin pass on Bradshaw too aggressive for their liking. 

Bradshaw then dominated the finale from pole while Team Parker Racing’s Joe Marshall moved himself into joint-second in the standings alongside Tofts, after a trio of third place finishes. 

Hopkins takes maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB win after frontrunners collide

The reigning Porsche Sprint Challenge champion took his maiden Carrera Cup GB win at Knockhill

Photo by: JEP

Team Parker Racing’s Seb Hopkins claimed a popular maiden Porsche Carrera Cup GB win in a frantic second race in which title rivals Will Martin and Andrew Rackstraw came to blows. 

The 2024 Porsche Sprint Challenge champion Hopkins, in his first season of Carrera Cup competition, shadowed polesitter Oliver White in the early going of the partially reversed grid race before making a superb lunge down the inside of the hairpin to grab the initiative on lap 12 of 32. A lap later, chaos ensued as defending champion George Gamble misjudged his overtake on White at the same corner, sending the Pro-Am runner into a spin. Perhaps distracted behind, Martin also tagged the rear of Rackstraw which left the latter facing the wrong way too, dropping him to 10th by the end. 

Both Gamble and Martin – who continued to finish second and third respectively – were docked four championship points for causing collisions, meaning Rackstraw is just five points adrift after dropped scores.

Martin took pole for the opening race in the morning and duly led for the duration with Rackstraw in pursuit. A late surge from Rackstraw kept Martin firmly on his toes, eventually coming out on top by 0.825s. 

Edmundson claims shock win amid frantic Mini Challenge UK weekend

Max Edmundson, Mini Challenge UK, Knockhill

Photo by: JEP

As he was bouncing the gravel at Clark corner on lap one of the Mini Challenge UK finale, Max Edmundson must have surely thought his chances of winning were, if not zero, then very slim indeed.  

That the reigning Civic Cup champion, whose participation in the remaining rounds of the 2025 campaign remains uncertain due to budget constraints, did just that, probably surprised the man himself as much as anyone else. 

Race one winner Nathan Edwards held onto the lead from pole despite initially losing out to runaway points leader Jamie Osborne at Duffus. Osborne dropped to fifth as Selby and Harry Hickton formed a three-way lead scrap. Edwards then badly missed his braking point for the hairpin and slammed into the back of Hickton, forcing himself out of the race. Hickton continued to finish fifth, but Edmundson came through the chaos to run second. Selby then got baulked behind a lapped car which allowed Edmundson to get by and claim an unlikely victory.

Osborne, who arrived in Scotland with a 38-point margin, increased his championship lead by a further two points thanks to a pair of second places, behind Edwards and Josh Porter in races one and two respectively.