The Latest Breaking News from Mikey Doble

Despite steady morning drizzle, Hill was the only driver among the top nine to take the start on wet-weather Goodyears and had qualified his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport in fourth position. 

Sutton, who holds a 42-point advantage over Tom Ingram in the rankings, sat on the bubble at the wheel of his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST during the last couple of minutes in qualifying on the National Circuit. 

As championship leader, Sutton was running the minimum hybrid boost allowance of one second per lap at a minimum speed of 135mph on his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST, yet he was still able to put himself at the front.

The three-time champion demolished his opposition at the wheel of his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST to lead a team 1-2 from Dan Cammish by 0.666 seconds.

The Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N benefited from being one of those to pit at the end of the green-flag lap for wet-weather Goodyear tyres when rain made the going slippery.

The Northern Irishman eclipsed the quickest time of the opening session set by Ash Sutton, which had been a gargantuan 0.476 seconds clear of closest pursuer Turkington and had seemed to send out an ominous warning that the three-time title winner and the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus squad will be…

The series hasn't had the most dramatic of silly seasons - indeed, the top six drivers from 2022 all line up with the same teams and machinery in 2023 - but there are plenty of factors that could shake things up.

Mikey Doble is to step up after a remarkable year in which he won the Ginetta GT5 Challenge and BMW Compact Cup to drive one of PMR’s Vauxhall Astras.

From a title decided by a last-corner-of-the-season collision, to one settled in the National Court, here are some of the closest rivalries from the national motorsport season