BTCC Knockhill: Hill holds on under Sutton pressure

Hill led from start to finish and used his pole position to build up an early advantage at the wheel of his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport while Sutton worked his way through from sixth on the grid. 

The three-time champion was up to third within the first few corners, before the race went under a brief safety car – Jade Edwards had been edged wide as she ran side by side with Sam Osborne on the run out of McIntyres, and slewed across the road to make gentle contact with the chicane barrier. 

Hill was assisted by second-placed team-mate Stephen Jelley, whose restart was so sluggish that the gap as they crossed the start-finish line was already 1.575 seconds. 

Sutton got ahead of Jelley at the exit of McIntyres on the first lap after the restart, but the gap to Hill was 2.289s by the end of the lap. 

Now Sutton got to work in his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST, chiselling away at the gap and setting the fastest lap in the process. By half-distance Hill’s advantage was less than one second, and with seven laps remaining Hill was having to defend the inside line at the hairpin. 

The battle brought back memories of the duo’s thrilling exploits at the circuit in 2022, and on the 24th lap of 26 Sutton drew to the outside at McIntyres. He did the same at the hairpin, but Hill clung on. 

Sutton made one final bid at the hairpin on the final lap but fell short by 0.374s. 

“Me and Ash just thought we’d repeat last year, it was so good,” joked Hill. 

“The car’s not the fastest thing out there, but it’s been going very well, although my tyres were just killing themselves by the end to be honest.” 

Jelley dropped back to a distant and very lonely third, almost 12s adrift of Hill, while the chaos from race one that left many of the regular leading runners at the back of the grid allowed some others to shine. 

Andrew Watson struggled from the front row in the early laps in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra, and it was team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith who came through to head the entertaining battle for fourth, albeit almost 19s off victor Hill. 

The Irishman headed home Dan Lloyd, who made good progress from 10th on the grid in his Team Hard Cupra Leon, the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla of Ricky Collard, and Ronan Pearson in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N. 

Scotsman Pearson was drawn on reversed-grid pole position for the day’s final race. 

That will be to the chagrin of Josh Cook, who put in a brilliant drive from 24th at the start to claim eighth in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R but missed out on the reversed grid. 

Cook passed Watson on the final lap, while reigning champion Tom Ingram fought through from 26th on the grid to 10th in his Excelr8 Hyundai. 

Dan Cammish (Motorbase Ford) and Colin Turkington (WSR BMW) were battling for 13th on the penultimate lap when contact put both out. 

Knockhill BTCC race two result

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	J. Hill Jake Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	26	23'48.509		83.01		20
2	A. Sutton Ashley Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	26	+0.374	0.374	82.99		17
3	S. Jelley Stephen Jelley Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	26	+11.946	11.572	82.32		15
4	A. Taylor-Smith Aron Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	26	+18.881	6.935	81.93		13
5	D. Lloyd Daniel Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils			Cupra León	26	+19.616	0.735	81.89		11
6	R. Collard Ricky Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	26	+21.441	1.825	81.78		10
7	R. Pearson Ronan Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	26	+21.711	0.270	81.77		9
8	J. Cook Josh Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	26	+22.171	0.460	81.74		8
9	A. Watson Andrew Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	26	+22.912	0.741	81.70		7
10	T. Ingram Tom Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	26	+23.771	0.859	81.65		6
11	G. Gamble George Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	26	+26.969	3.198	81.47		5
12	M. Doble Mikey Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	26	+30.098	3.129	81.30		4
13	D. Patterson Dexter Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	26	+32.015	1.917	81.19		3
14	R. Huff Rob Huff Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	26	+33.464	1.449	81.11		2
15	R. Butcher Rory Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	26	+33.687	0.223	81.10		1
16	T. Chilton Tom Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	26	+33.883	0.196	81.09
17	S. Osborne Sam Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	26	+34.218	0.335	81.07
18	M. Crees Michael Crees BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Cupra León	26	+37.677	3.459	80.88
19	A. Moffat Aiden Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	26	+38.495	0.818	80.83
20	J. Butel Jack Butel Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	26	+40.853	2.358	80.70
21	N. Halstead Nick Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	26	+45.275	4.422	80.46
22	D. De Daryl De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	26	+51.878	6.603	80.10
23	D. Rowbottom Daniel Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	25	+1 Lap	1 Lap	77.72
dnf	D. Cammish Dan Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	24	+2 Laps	1 Lap	81.09	Retirement
dnf	C. Turkington Colin Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	24	+2 Laps	0.713	81.05	Retirement
dnf	J. Edwards Jade Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	21	+5 Laps	3 Laps	79.18	Retirement
dnf	A. Morgan Adam Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	21	+5 Laps	4'24.148	64.98	Retirement
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