Adam Morgan led all the way from pole to claim victory in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying race at Knockhill.
This was the new-for-2026 Plato Racing squad’s second taste of glory with its Mercedes A35 saloons following Dan Rowbottom’s win in the half-points Saturday race at the Donington Park opener.
Morgan topped his qualifying group and his time was only just good enough to withstand an attack by Gordon Shedden from the later split – the Speedworks Motorsport-run Toyota Corolla GR Sport fell just 0.030 seconds short of demoting the Lancastrian from pole.
It was the first time Morgan has topped BTCC qualifying since the Rockingham 2018 round.
Wheelspin from Shedden at the start allowed Morgan to disappear up the road, while the second Plato Mercedes of Rowbottom got almost clear of the Toyota at the turn-in to the first corner of Duffus Dip – but not quite.
Rowbottom got onto the marbles on the outside and speared off the circuit before rejoining the track on the approach to McIntyre’s, where Shedden claimed the inside line once again as they made contact.
Adam Morgan, Cataclean Plato Racing
Photo by: JEP
Further back in the pack, Josh Cook’s Speedworks Toyota got into a slide at Butcher’s and onto the grass on the inside, before a heavy impact with the barrier, meaning the race immediately went under the safety car.
Rowbottom redoubled his attempts to pass Shedden at the restart, allowing Morgan to again extend an advantage. Some mid-race intensification of the early spits-and-spots of rain appeared to be handing the advantage to the Scottish veteran as he closed in, but when the track dried the Mercedes pulled away once again.
Morgan eventually crossed the finish line 2.968 seconds in front, while Shedden narrowly held off Rowbottom for second, with the Restart Racing Hyundai i30 N Fastback of Chris Smiley right on the back of this pair in fourth.
“It’s mega,” said Morgan. “The car’s just come here and it’s been in a lovely spot and I’ve been able to get on top of it really quickly.
“There were a couple of laps where the rain was a little bit noticeable, but it was [to] keep it off the kerbs, move the brake bias backwards. I was thinking, ‘Why me when I’m leading?!’”
Charles Rainford had run fourth early on, but succumbed to a dive from Smiley at the hairpin on the first lap after the restart. He then held off the sister West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport of Daryl De Leon to head a 5-6 for the Sunbury squad.
Adam Morgan, Cataclean Plato Racing
Photo by: JEP
The best of the action came outside the top six. With Knockhill’s laptime being just 50s, that magnified the effect of the TOCA Turbo Boost deficits.
Championship leader Ash Sutton’s one second per lap translated to 16th on the grid, and runner-up Tom Ingram’s 3s/lap to 11th, although each would have been higher up if not for track-limits offences that resulted in lap times being taken away.
Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai finished the race ninth, right on the back of the battle for seventh between team-mate Ricky Collard and Mikey Doble’s Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon. Doble narrowly got the momentum on Collard out of the hairpin to pip the Hyundai at the finish.
Sutton finished 11th, on the tail of the sister Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium of Dan Cammish, who himself was restricted to just 5s/lap of TTB.
BTCC Knockhill qualifying race results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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