Hill makes it two wins on the day

Reigning champion Jake Hill made it a double on the day in the Knockhill round of the British Touring Car Championship with victory in the final race.

While Hill provided further joy for the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport team, the battle pack behind turned into an old-school DTM-style game of team-mate strategy that culminated in Dan Cammish once again moving over to allow Ash Sutton past on the run to the finish line to grab second place.

With Tom Ingram claiming fourth, that means four-time title winner Sutton has trimmed the 2022 champion’s points lead from a pre-race 19 to 15.

Hill started from the front row alongside WSR BMW team-mate Daryl DeLeon, but the youngster was on medium tyres, with third-on-the-grid Senna Proctor the only other top-16 starter not on the advantageous soft Goodyears.

DeLeon got away in front, but Hill went down the inside of the sister BMW at the hairpin at the end of the second lap, and then completed the move into Duffus Dip after a side-by-side run along the start-finish straight. 

Cammish then speared his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST down the inside of DeLeon at the tight McIntyre’s right-hander to grab second place. But, despite setting the fastest lap, the Berkshire-domiciled Yorkshireman had no answer to the consistency of Hill’s pace.

Behind the leading duo, Proctor took his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback past DeLeon for third, and for half the race their negative tyre offset was neutralised by the intensity of the battle behind.

Far from catching those in front, Sutton had his hands full with a concerted attack from Ingram’s Excelr8 Hyundai, which time and again feinted, dived and traded paint with the Alliance Ford of his title rival, but to little avail.

Eventually the title-chasing pair caught Proctor and DeLeon, but the battle allowed Ingram’s team-mate Tom Chilton and Sutton’s stablemate Dan Rowbottom into play.

Rowbottom got past Chilton, but a feisty repass from the extrovert Surrey racer at McIntyre’s redressed the balance – but only briefly until the bearded Midlander made a successful retaliation.

Once Proctor – who would earn a 10-second penalty for track-limits abuse – and DeLeon were dispatched, Sutton and Ingram were able to race clear.

But the fizz had gone out of their battle, and Sutton looked secure in third.

Up front, Hill kept a gap of just under four seconds to Cammish, who then dutifully moved over on the run to the finish line to allow Sutton up into second.

But there remains a shred of doubt over whether the pass will be allowed to stand, because yellow flags were being waved due to DeLeon’s BMW being stranded at the beginning of the pit entry road.

There was no disputing Hill’s win though, and the BMW crossed the finish line 4.717s in front of Hill.

“What a way to come back after missing Croft,” said Hill. “The car was absolutely perfect. Easy to drive, easy to manage. Thanks to Daryl for not holding me up too much.

“We have made huge strides forward with the car, so a big thank you to WSR for working so hard.”

“Once again, Dan Cammish did a blinder with me there,” acknowledged Sutton.

Behind fourth-placed Ingram, Chilton finally made it count with a dive on Rowbottom at Clark with three and a half laps remaining to grab fifth place.

Proctor finished seventh, but his penalty relegated him to 13th. Up to seventh therefore came Excelr8 team-mate Adam Morgan, with Charles Rainford eighth in his WSR BMW.

Next up was the all-Scottish battle for ninth on home ground, with Aiden Moffat (WSR BMW) pipping the surging Gordon Shedden (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport) to the post by 0.010s.

BTCC Knockhill – Race 3 results