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Marcus Simmons

BTCC Knockhill: Sutton pips Cook to pole

The three-time champion wrung everything out of himself and his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST in the Q2 top-10 shootout to pip the One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R of Josh Cook by 0.006 seconds.

Qualifying had started on a wet track with the entire field on grooved tyres, but at the halfway point former World Touring Car champion Rob Huff was the first to emerge on the soft-compound slick Goodyears, and the crossover point soon emerged.

The One Motorsport Hondas had quickly emulated Huff, with Cook and Aiden Moffat taking turns at the top of the times.

But conditions were still tricky, as Thruxton poleman Dan Cammish found his Motorbase Ford snapping off the road at Butchers while he sat on provisional pole.

The damage from his trip across the grass sidelined him for the remainder of the session, dropping him to 23rd in the final order.

An off for Stephen Jelley’s West Surrey Racing BMW in the same vicinity caused a red flag during the final minute, and the clock was reset to five minutes remaining.

Rory Butcher and his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla were fastest at this stage, but he failed to improve during the final five minutes and fell to sixth.

Cook set the quickest time, but this was deleted for a track-limits transgression so it was Jake Hill and his WSR BMW that finally topped Q1, 0.090 seconds clear of Cook’s fastest legal effort.

A flapping front splitter on Hill’s BMW betrayed an off earlier in the session that ripped off the floor, so he counted himself fortunate to be able to get back into the fray.

Cook, with 11 seconds of hybrid per lap available to him at a minimum of 125km/h, looked good for pole as Q2 entered its closing stages.

But Sutton, with the minimum 1s hybrid at 135km/h, pulled off a sublime effort to keep up the NAPA-liveried Fords’ run of every single pole position in 2023 – the Focuses now on seven out of seven.

Cook missed out on pole by 0.006s to Sutton (Photo by: Motorsport Images)

“This car is phenomenal on the soft tyre, and I just had to dig deep, and I did exactly that,” said Sutton.

“Through the chicane it was a complete opposite-lock, typical Ash Sutton job.

“It’s been a bit of a rough day – we had a damper issue in FP2, which limited our running, so to roll it out and get it on the front row is just a mega job.”

While Cook’s sector times put him on pole on theoretical bests, Hill was also close at hand – on 7s/130km/h of hybrid he qualified third, just 0.029s away from Sutton.

Butcher was fourth on his home ground, on the full 15s/115km/h of hybrid, while reigning champion Tom Ingram took fifth in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, on 3s/135km/h hybrid.

Adam Morgan showed well to end up sixth, separated from his WSR BMW team-mate Colin Turkington by Moffat.

It was a low-key showing from Turkington, who was close to the bubble in the closing stages of Q1 on 5s/135km/h hybrid – both he and Moffat had moments in the gravel in the Q2 shootout.

Tom Chilton celebrated clambering back into Q2 after dropping out late in Q1 by claiming ninth in his Excelr8 Hyundai, with Dan Lloyd and his Team Hard Cupra Leon completing the top 10.

BTCC Knockhill - qualifying result Q1

 

 
     
Driver Info
 
 
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom J. Hill Jake Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 24 BMW 330e M Sport 16 51.535   88.500
2 United Kingdom J. Cook Josh Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing 66 Honda Civic Type R 30 +0.090 0.090 88.346
3 United Kingdom A. Sutton Ashley Sutton NAPA Racing UK 116 Ford Focus ST 28 +0.182 0.092 88.188
4 United Kingdom T. Ingram Tom Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 1 Hyundai i30N 23 +0.183 0.001 88.187
5 United Kingdom A. Moffat Aiden Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing 16 Honda Civic Type R 27 +0.235 0.052 88.098
6 United Kingdom R. Butcher Rory Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 6 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 27 +0.255 0.020 88.064
7 United Kingdom D. Lloyd Daniel Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils 123 Cupra León 25 +0.292 0.037 88.001
8 United Kingdom T. Chilton Tom Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 3 Hyundai i30N 22 +0.362 0.070 87.883
9 United Kingdom C. Turkington Colin Turkington Team BMW 4 BMW 330e M Sport 29 +0.365 0.003 87.877
10 United Kingdom A. Morgan Adam Morgan Team BMW 33 BMW 330e M Sport 30 +0.369 0.004 87.871
11 United Kingdom R. Collard Ricky Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 37 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 28 +0.404 0.035 87.811
12 Ireland A. Taylor-Smith Aron Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing 40 Vauxhall Astra 28 +0.487 0.083 87.671
13 United Kingdom D. Rowbottom Daniel Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK 32 Ford Focus ST 27 +0.514 0.027 87.626
14
R. Pearson Ronan Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8
14 Hyundai i30N 27 +0.536 0.022 87.589
15 United Kingdom A. Watson Andrew Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing 11 Vauxhall Astra 27 +0.539 0.003 87.584
16 United Kingdom S. Osborne Sam Osborne NAPA Racing UK 77 Ford Focus ST 27 +0.620 0.081 87.448
17
G. Gamble George Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK
42 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 22 +0.868 0.248 87.034
18 United Kingdom S. Jelley Stephen Jelley Team BMW 12 BMW 330e M Sport 24 +0.927 0.059 86.936
19
J. Edwards Jade Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.
99 Cupra León 30 +0.960 0.033 86.881
20 United Kingdom R. Huff Rob Huff Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown 79 Cupra León 26 +1.015 0.055 86.790
21
D. Patterson Dexter Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.
17 Cupra León 29 +1.057 0.042 86.721
22
M. Doble Mikey Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing
88 Vauxhall Astra 24 +1.150 0.093 86.568
23 United Kingdom D. Cammish Dan Cammish NAPA Racing UK 27 Ford Focus ST 17 +1.223 0.073 86.448
24
J. Butel Jack Butel Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown
96 Cupra León 30 +1.262 0.039 86.384
25
M. Crees Michael Crees BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8
777 Cupra León 25 +1.283 0.021 86.350
26
N. Halstead Nick Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8
22 Hyundai i30N 27 +2.005 0.722 85.186
27
D. De Daryl De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.
18 Cupra León 17 +5.199 3.194 80.390
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