After four weekends packed with Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship action, Colin Turkington tops the new-for-2020 Goodyear Wingfoot Award standings by a single point, closely followed by Rory Butcher and Dan Cammish.

The keenly-fought category sees points awarded for each qualifying session as per the points-scoring structure of the races, with pole position receiving 20 points, second place 17 points and so on for the first 15 qualifiers.

The 2020 season has already exemplified how qualifying can be just as nail-biting as Sunday’s racing, with team-mates Tom Oliphant and Turkington in the West Surrey Racing BMWs crossing the line at Brands Hatch with the exact same qualifying time to the thousandth-of-a-second. Perfectly defining the reason Goodyear has chosen to honour the award based on qualifying positions, the drivers ultimately pick up points based on who crossed the line first, giving Turkington the advantage.

In the Motorbase Ford Focus ST, Butcher has shown his outright pace over the first four events of the season, standing in second place after successive pole positions at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park. Proving his strength in qualifying, the Scot remains Turkington’s closest rival for the Wingfoot Award and yet, based on the championship standings, he has some work to do to catch up with overall leader Turkington and second-placed Ash Sutton.

“After an action-packed first four events of the 2020 season, we’re excited to see the Wingfoot Award providing close results just as we had hoped,” said Andy Marfleet, Marketing Director Goodyear UK&I. “We are starting to see some strong qualifiers shining through who are showing their outright pace, and we are pleased to recognise these with the Goodyear Wingfoot Award.”

The 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season continues with the remaining five events, finishing at the Brands Hatch Indy circuit on 15 November. Updates on the Goodyear Wingfoot Award can be found at btcc.net or @Goodyear.UK on Facebook.

Current standings after Knockhill:

1	Colin TURKINGTON	61
2	Rory BUTCHER	60
3	Dan CAMMISH	58
4	Jake HILL	49
5	Ashley SUTTON	42
6	Josh COOK	37
7	Tom OLIPHANT	35
8	Tom INGRAM	34
9	Matt NEAL	32
10	Ollie JACKSON	18
11	Tom CHILTON	18
12	Senna PROCTOR	18
13	Adam MORGAN	18
14	Mike BUSHELL	10
15	Chris SMILEY	9
16	Stephen JELLEY	9
17	Aiden MOFFAT	8
18	Sam OSBORNE	4
19	Michael CREES	4

Halfords Yuasa Racing showed consistency in the fourth meeting of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill in Scotland last weekend (29/30 August), with both Dan Cammish and Matt Neal scoring points in all three races in their Honda Civic Type Rs.    

Qualifying on the tight 1.27-mile Fife circuit saw Cammish find an early gap in the traffic, setting a time good enough to start Sunday’s opening encounter from fourth on the grid.

Neal was also highly competitive until an error exiting the chicane sent him into a heavy impact with the tyre wall. The Halfords Yuasa Racing mechanics set about an overnight rebuild to ensure their driver could take up his P9 spot on the race one grid. 

Cammish made a good start and at the end of the first lap dived inside local man Rory Butcher at the hairpin to claim third. But contact from a rival then sent the Honda over the edge of a gravel trap, dropping the #27 to sixth, where it remained to the chequered flag.

Neal maintained ninth in the early laps in his newly rebuilt car, and was then able to pick off rivals Aiden Moffat and Mike Bushell to finish the first race just behind his team-mate.

At the start of race two, Cammish held onto sixth, before seizing the opportunity to grab fourth. He then repeatedly challenged Tom Ingram for the final podium spot but was unable to find a way past.

A determined performance saw Neal fight his way up the field to again cross the finish line just behind his team-mate, although a ten-second penalty due to a false start would see the BTCC veteran relegated to 15^th.

The reverse-grid draw for the final race put Cammish into eighth on the grid, while Neal started from 15^th. The pair both made strong starts, but an incident involving several cars just two laps in would see the final contest re-start from the grid.

Cammish once again got away well, this time overcoming rivals Jake Hill and Chris Smiley to finish sixth. Neal, meanwhile, found himself in a frantic multi-car midfield battle, making up three places to finish 12^th and earn potentially vital points for the Honda-backed team. 

Following a busy start to the delayed 2020 season with 12 races in just five weekends, Halfords Yuasa Racing will now enjoy a welcome three-week break before the next rounds at Thruxton on 19/20 September. 

The squad has enjoyed its strongest success record at the fast Hampshire track, scoring 12 victories there since 2011 – including a particularly memorable day in 2013, when all three wins were taken by the team. Cammish achieved a victory last time out at Thruxton, and both he and team-mate Neal will be keen to add to that record and maintain their championship challenge.

“It was quite a good day actually,” said Cammish. “We were consistent and scored points in every race, and I could have made the podium in race one had I not been knocked wide onto the gravel.

“I'm looking forward to going to Thruxton – it's a good track for us and I took a win there last season.”

“After my little off in qualifying, the Halfords Yuasa guys did a brilliant job to rebuild the car overnight and it felt great on Sunday,” added Neal. “Obviously race two was disappointing. I was penalised for being marginally out of position on the grid, which was especially frustrating as it’s so difficult to overtake around Knockhill if someone drives a tight line.

“Still, points finishes in all three races for both cars is a good record, and now we go on to Thruxton where we always run well.”

Tom Ingram piloted his Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters Corolla to its second podium finish of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign at Knockhill last weekend (29/30 August), as the Speedworks Motorsport-run hatchback truly took the fight to the BTCC’s rear-wheel drive brigade.
 
The short, technically demanding circuit is traditionally regarded as rear-wheel drive territory, but nobody seemed to tell Ingram as he put the Corolla at the top of the timing screens for a while during Saturday’s FP1, before bouncing back from a gearbox oil leak that cost him set-up time in FP2 to lap second-quickest.
 
With 30kg of success ballast on-board, the Bucks-born ace again leapt to the head of the order in qualifying prior to going on a wild ride across the grass after clipping the kerb on the exit of the chicane. In what was a real ‘heart-in-mouth’ moment, it was only Ingram’s phenomenal car control that kept the Toyota out of the barriers. His earlier benchmark remained unchallenged for some time, but he was ultimately forced to settle for fifth, still well in the mix and a mere two tenths-of-a-second shy of pole position amongst the 25 high-calibre protagonists.
 
In front of the live ITV2 television cameras the following day, the two-time BTCC Independents’ Champion rose to fourth by the end of the first lap of race one and proceeded to go on the attack, but try as he might, he couldn’t quite unseat Jake Hill in a much lighter car from third place. Practically glued to his rival’s rear bumper, he flashed past the chequered flag less than half-a-second in arrears.
 
Gaining 12kg of additional weight for race two, Ingram took advantage of a squabble between Hill and Rory Butcher at the start and – by dint of leaving his braking as late as he dared – swept around the outside of both men into turn one. He stayed firmly in the lead battle until he had to turn his attentions to fending off a charging Dan Cammish in his mirrors. Soaking up sustained pressure throughout, his reward for a dogged defence was third position and the honour of best-placed front-wheel drive car.
 
From ninth on the partially-reversed grid in the finale, with 48kg on-board and two fast-starting rear-wheel drive cars right behind him, the 27-year-old pulled off an audacious manoeuvre on championship leader Colin Turkington through the opening corners, only to concede the spot again a few laps later when he found himself stuck on the outside line at the hairpin.
 
Thereafter, he was embroiled in a multi-car scrap for seventh and – not for the first time this season – boldly held his ground in a side-by-side duel with race one and two winner, Ash Sutton. Tenth position at the flag maintained Ingram’s commendable record of placing inside the top ten in every race he has finished this year – the only driver other than Turkington to do so – and saw him consolidate sixth spot in the title standings, just 16 points shy of third. Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters occupies the same ranking in the Teams’ table.
 
“Overall, we left Knockhill feeling pretty happy about everything,” said Team Principal Christian Dick. “Tom was on the pace from the outset, and even with losing almost half of the second practice session to a gearbox oil leak, he was still bang on the money so we felt pretty bullish heading into qualifying and were again right in the ballpark. To line up fifth, with the weight we were carrying and at what is essentially a rear-wheel drive track was, I thought, an excellent effort.
 
“Tom applied the pressure all the way through race one, but it’s just so difficult to overtake round there and with the championship situation to think about, we decided to bank the points for fourth place, which still kept us well in the hunt.
 
“Race two was then almost a role-reversal, as Tom found himself having to fend off a lighter car behind, which he did admirably. It’s always satisfying to finish on the podium but to do so after such a determined drive was even more rewarding and well-merited for a stellar performance.
 
“We knew race three was going to be a much tougher proposition. Once again, the reverse grid draw did us no favours and when you’re in amongst the RWD cars at Knockhill, you’ve really got to keep your wits about you. The action was frenetic and even so much as a single slip could have cost us a handful of places, but Tom kept his composure to bring home another solid points haul that leaves us in good stead moving forward.
 
“There’s no question that it’s been an intense first half to the season with four events in five weekends, but we have come out of it in very decent shape, for which the entire team deserves considerable kudos. We have scored points in ten of the 12 races to date, and the only times we haven’t scored, it has been through no fault of our own. Now we will go away, regroup and come back even stronger at Thruxton in three weeks’ time!”
 
“Another weekend where we were there-or-thereabouts throughout,” reflected Ingram. “I really don’t think we could have achieved very much more. It was definitely a big improvement compared to 12 months ago at Knockhill, which is encouraging.
 
“The Corolla felt really good in qualifying, which is all credit to the team. I knew the time I set early on would not ultimately be good enough, but I was surprised by how long it took for the others to begin to go quicker. It’s always a busy lap at Knockhill, and I didn’t quite manage to link all the sectors together but I was still pleased with fifth – it was the first time all season I’ve felt like we could really push for pole.
 
“Cammish gifted me a place when he went wide in race one, but then my momentum came to a halt behind Hill. It’s so frustrating at Knockhill – you can have the legs on the car ahead of you, but you just can’t do anything about it. All the other driver needs to do is stick to the inside at the hairpin, which forces you to the outside where you are vulnerable to attack from behind. Jake also had no ballast on-board, which gave him a slight advantage. Had I been able to get past him, perhaps I could have closed the gap to the top two, but I was happy enough to finish fourth.
 
“That said, I knew it was important to clear Jake quickly in race two, because if we had settled into a rhythm, it would have risked turning into a repeat scenario. The Corolla was superb early on and with a decent-sized gap behind, I was able to go on the attack – it actually felt like we were in the power seat for a while – but then Cammish closed onto the back of me and once you find yourself having to defend, you naturally go slower. I could see Dan was quicker in a number of areas so I was having to drive in my mirrors, and it was good to come away with our second podium of the season.
 
“It was inevitable that I was going to lose ground at the beginning of race three – even if you get the best possible start, with rear-wheel drive cars right behind you, you’re still going to get mugged. After re-passing Colin [Turkington], I then got my nose up the inside of [Aiden] Moffat coming out of the chicane but he closed the door, which resulted in contact. That left me on the outside on the approach to the hairpin, costing me the position to Colin again.
 
“With rear-wheel drive cars all around us, we were on a bit of a hiding to nothing after that – the best overtaking opportunity at the track is the final hairpin, but what we gained on the brakes, we would lose and more besides all the way from the exit up to turn one. To hang onto tenth place was probably the best we could have managed and meant we left Knockhill with three very solid results, more good points, another trophy and very little damage. Now we look forward to an altogether different type of challenge at Thruxton – bring it on!”

Relive all the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship action from Knockhill via the dulcet tones of Duncan Vincent and Dr Rob Johnson in the latest BTCC race day podcasts available below or via the BTCC Audio Portal. Comprising qualifying commentary alongside each race, you'll be set to get your BTCC fix whenever necessary...

MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square driver Jake Hill had what he described as 'probably my best BTCC weekend ever' after firstly qualifying on the front-row of the grid, a mere 0.053 seconds away from Pole Position, then taking a second top-three finish in a row in race one, and adding much-needed points with two battling drives to P8 and P5 in the remaining two races.

"Of course winning here last year was so special, plus the other podiums I've had have been so important. What was so good about this weekend was the qualifying pace - I've now qualified in the top-seven in all four events, and in both race one and race three today the car was really strong.

"It's no secret we've had ongoing technical issues - we had a misfire and a clutch problem on Saturday, and I know before we go to Thruxton the team will make a couple of major changes.

"I have to say the biggest 'thank you' to all of the guys on my car - from (team manager) Rob Ticker, to my engineer Craig Porley, and my amazing boys and girl on the car - Ben, Rob O, Dan, Micky P, Charlie and data Rob - they have worked their hearts out in this crazy five week period of four events. I love working with them and am looking forward to them having a smoother ride soon!"

Hill was expecting to lose a place to the always fast-starting BMW of championship leader Colin Turkington at the start of race one, but then began a race-long battle with Tom Ingram's works-backed Toyota, the pair nose-to-tail for the full 27 laps, with a delighted Hill taking P3, and the honour of the first front-wheel drive car home.

"Tom was relentless. But I just had enough at key places, the car was strong in them and I did my bit too! That feels great!"

Race two and now with 48kgs of success ballast and a combination of the extra weight hampering acceleration, and some braking and tyre issues meant a battling P8, but still with more points and in the mix for the reverse grid draw.

Sure enough, Hill ended up P4 on the grid for the final race of the day, now with less ballast on board and some changes to the car.

A red flag early on for an incident involving Ollie Jackson, Mike Bushell and Jake's team-mate Sam Osborne meant a delay to proceedings.

A slightly reduced race distance of 20 laps of the twisty 1.27 miles circuit saw a scrapping first couple of laps, with Oliphant getting a rapid start, and Tom Chilton edging past.

However a set of strong laps saw Hill pass Chris Smiley in a decisive move at Clark Curve, and then set about trying to catch the BMW ahead, and ultimately edging away from Dan Cammish in the latest 'works' Honda Civic Type-R to take a well-earned P5.

"The car was superb in that race. That's meant that now we have scored solid points in the last six races - including those two podiums of course, and it's moved us up to P7 in the Independents' Championship and P9 overall.

"Thruxton is next and the car was on pole for both races there last year, so having come so close at Brands Hatch and Knockhill maybe I can nip pole there.

"Most importantly the car is quick, I'm loving driving it and despite the glitches we are now scoring solid points.

"It just proves in this championship... just never give up!"

Next race weekend -Thruxton 19/20th September

Sutton and Turkington battle it out before Butcher takes home win

Laser Tools Racing’s Ash Sutton produced two carbon copy performances to claim a win double in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, as he fended off Team BMW’s Colin Turkington in the opening encounters.
 
It became a homeland hat-trick of sorts as Laser Tools Racing’s triumphs were followed by victory for Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher in the finale.
 
Sutton secured the first-ever pole position for the Infiniti Q50 on Saturday afternoon and then duly followed it up with a pair of lights-to-flag victories on Sunday, but both came under intense pressure from championship leader Turkington.
 
Turkington hounded Sutton in the opener after the former got the jump on front-row starter Jake Hill off the line.
 
The race bunched up when a safety car period was called for following a significant accident for BTC Racing’s Josh Cook at the chicane. Cook's car wriggled through the notorious section of track, as he lost the rear-end of his Honda Civic Type R at high speed before crashing backwards into the barrier.
 
Turkington seemed to be the faster of the front two immediately after the restart, but realistically he was never close enough to make a significant move and the same could be said for the two pairs of challengers behind them.
 
MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square’s Hill held off Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla to take his second rostrum in as many weekends, whilst Motorbase Performance’s Butcher maintained a similar advantage to the manufacturer-backed Honda of Dan Cammish.
 
Sutton then doubled up with a similar performance in the second bout as he duelled it out with Turkington again. Top two in the race and now firmly top two in the championship, the younger challenger began reducing the overall points deficit to the record-equalling four-time champion.
 
Yet again, Sutton had Turkington breathing down his neck for the full 27-lap duration – this time with the BMW 3 Series the lighter of the two machines – but was still able to keep the #1 car at bay.
 
Sutton perfectly positioned his car at every possible turn, leaving Turkington with little opportunity of grabbing another BTCC victory, and it was the Infiniti man scoring his fourth win of the season with another impressive defensive drive.
 
The rivalry is nicely bubbling between them but it’s clear that there is a huge amount of respect between the two champions.
 
Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters’ Ingram was also involved in the scrap for victory during the first half of race two, before he had to turn his attentions to defending from Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Cammish.
 
Their battle ultimately allowed the lead duo to scamper away, but Ingram was still delighted with a hard-earned podium finish.
 
The reverse-grid contest belonged to Butcher as the Scotsman scored a brilliant home win, dominating the race after getting the jump by pole-sitter Senna Proctor.
 
The race was originally red flagged following a sizeable accident involving Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance), Mike Bushell (Power Maxed Car Care Racing) and Sam Osborne (MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square). 
 
The rear-right wheel of Jackson’s Ford Focus was locked, which ultimately spun his #48 machine through the chicane and in front of the oncoming traffic. Bushell had nowhere to go – hitting Jackson’s Focus with some force – whilst Osborne side-swiped the Vauxhall Astra ahead of him while trying to take evasive action.
 
The unfortunate Bushell later confirmed that he had dislocated his shoulder as well as suffering ligament damage to his wrist, whilst all others involved emerged relatively unscathed.
 
Butcher – having originally blasted by Excelr8 Motorsport’s Proctor on the first getaway – had to do it all again on the restart, and that’s exactly what he did on the run down to turn one.
 
The 33-year-old never looked back and he pulled away to take a comfortable victory, albeit without a passionate home crowd present to add to his joy.
 
Proctor took a relatively lonely second ahead of a delighted Tom Chilton – the BTC Racing driver scoring the 101st podium of his racing career.
 
The contest concluded the run of four race weekends in just five weeks with the championship picture now beginning to take shape.
 
Turkington leads Sutton in the Drivers’ standings by ten points with Butcher 43 points off the championship summit.
 
Team BMW and the Bavarian marque dominates both the Teams' and Manufacturers' tables, whilst Sutton and Laser Tools Racing top both Independents’ orders.
 
Carl Boardley performed brilliantly at Knockhill, flying the Team HARD flag with two overall points finishes and the Jack Sears Trophy honours across the three races. The BMW 1 Series driver moves into second in the JST, 14 points behind Michael Crees.
 
Turkington is currently leading the Goodyear Wingfoot Award – based on qualifying results – from Butcher and Cammish.
 
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship now enjoys a three-week break before resuming at Thruxton in Hampshire on 19/20 September.

Ash Sutton said: “I’m over the moon. I think I can honestly say this is the best ever touring car I’ve driven. 
 
“It’s good to get the win here for Laser Tools Racing. It’s fantastic to convert that pole into a win. Colin was there but we just managed to hold that sensible gap that we required so he couldn’t get a move in.
 
“Colin put some huge pressure in at the start (of race two) and I was always having to look in my mirrors. I defended probably four or five times more than I did in race one, so it definitely shifted to his favour. He made one slight error 3/4 of the way through the race, which just gave me that margin again to bring it home.
 
“It’s still very early doors, it’s only the fourth meeting of the season, so there’s a long way to go yet. But this was my prime time to do that, this weekend, and we’ve done exactly that in races one and two.”
 
Colin Turkington said: “It was nice to get race one up and running and get a good result in the bag. My car had very good pace in that race, but Ash would stretch his legs in the middle sector and then I’d catch him at the end, so I was never really in a perfect position to mount an attack. 
 
“[Race two] was very much like race one; the car’s evenly matched over the course of the run and I was at full tilt to try to stay with Ash and make a move, but he just has a bit more pace than us today. We went to other tracks where we’ve been stronger, but Ash has got it dialled maybe a bit better than us.  
 
“We’re at Knockhill in August which tricks your mind. It makes you think we’re nearing the end of the season but in any other year we’re really only at Oulton Park, we’re only four weekends in. I’m keeping that at the forefront of my mind and conscious just to keep scoring really good points. We’ve got a long season ahead, we go until mid-November which is a long way away.”
 
Rory Butcher said: “I felt after Oulton, Josh [Cook] drove so well in that race and I got handed the win; I didn’t want to take my first victory in the new car in that way. So to do what we just did there on home ground has made up for it. 
 
“I’m so pleased for the team. I’ve had quite a difficult day. I was really pleased with race one, making up one place and getting past Cammish was great, but in race two I wasn’t really proud of my performance there. I kind of overdrove and had to sit down after that and reset. 
 
“I’ve been getting superb starts this year, doing a lot of studying into how to launch the car best and I was confident going into that race that I could lead going into turn one.
 
“We’ve won on-the-road today and I’m so proud.”
 

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Knockhill

1          Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 27 laps
2          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.350s
3          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +3.541s
4          Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +4.037s
5          Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +5.215s
6          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +6.049s
7          Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +8.683s
8          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +8.983s
9          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +10.237s
10        Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +12.457s

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Knockhill

1          Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 27 laps
2          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.662s
3          Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +4.033s
4          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +4.707s
5          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +6.282s
6          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +6.787s
7          Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +8.888s
8          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +10.972s
9          Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +11.502s
10        Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +11.820s

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Knockhill

1          Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance 20 laps
2          Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +6.442s
3          Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +7.232s
4          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +7.186s
5          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +9.063s
6          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +12.319s
7          Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +21.393s
8          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +21.720s
9          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +21.925s
10        Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +22.312s

Penalties:
Race 1: 
James Gornall was officially reprimanded, fined the sum of £500 and had his license endorsed by the addition of three penalty points for an incident involving Andy Neate

Race 2:
Bobby Thompson was excluded from the race result after his car failed post-race technical checks

Motorbase Performance's Rory Butcher scored a brilliant home win in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship finale, dominating the race after getting the jump by pole-sitter Senna Proctor.

The original race was red flagged following a sizeable accident involving Ollie Jackson (Motorbase Performance), Mike Bushell (Power Maxed Car Care Racing) and Sam Osborne (MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square). The rear-right wheel of Jackson's Ford Focus was locked, which ultimately spun his #48 machine through the chicane and in front of the oncoming traffic. Bushell had nowhere to go – hitting Jackson's Focus with some force – whilst Osborne side-swiped the Vauxhall Astra ahead of him while trying to take evasive action.

All drivers emerged relatively unscathed, but the race had to be stopped to remove the stricken cars and debris littered across the circuit.

Butcher – having originally got past Excelr8 Motorsport's Proctor on the first getaway – had to do it all again on the restart, and that's exactly what he did on the run down to turn one.

The Scotsman never looked back and he pulled away to take a comfortable victory, with the missing Scottish fans being the only disappointment for the talented racer.

"I felt after Oulton, Josh drove so well in that race and I got handed the win; I didn’t want to take my first victory in the new car in that way," said Butcher. "So to do what we just did there on home ground has made up for it. I’m so pleased for the team. I’ve had quite a difficult day. I was really pleased with race one, making up one place and getting past Cammish was great, but in race two I wasn’t really proud of my performance there.

"I’ve been getting superb starts this year, doing a lot of studying into how to launch the car best and I was confident going into that race that I could lead going into turn one.

"This event means so much to me. As soon as the calendar comes out it’s the event I’m looking forward to it and normally you get all the Scottish fans here. It really makes the venue have an incredible atmosphere. Unfortunately we didn’t have that today, but the Scottish marshals were waving the Scottish flag at the end of that race so I got a little buzz from that."

Similarly, Proctor took a relatively lonely second ahead of a delighted Tom Chilton – the BTC Racing driver scoring the 101st podium of his racing career.

The win would have been nice but today ultimately with the pace of the car P2 was okay," said Proctor. "We struggled in race one and two, but it’s another trophy for the car, which I was determined to do for the team to repay them for all their hard work. I’m happy with today’s work and I feel like we can roll on to Thruxton in a good place."

"We’re very very happy, it’s big news for us here at Knockhill this weekend," confirmed Chilton. "That was actually BTC Racing’s 102^nd race in the BTCC and my 101^st podium in my racing career. It was a big day today for us, we’re very happy."

Team BMW's Tom Oliphant grabbed fourth with a phenomenal move past Chris Smiley's Hyundai and Jake Hill rounded out his best day of the season so far with fifth in the MB Motorsport-run Honda Civic Type R. 

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish completed the top six, whilst the fading Smiley had to settle for seventh at the finish.

Smiley was often the cork in the bottle as the Northern Irishman had a host of contenders snapping at his heels. Team BMW's Colin Turkington and Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat swapped positions twice whilst both trying to get by Smiley, with Moffat eventually getting the better of the championship leader.

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters' Tom Ingram completed the top ten positions ahead of double race-winner Ash Sutton in the other Laser Tools Infiniti.

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 3 – Knockhill

1          Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance 20 laps
2          Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +6.442s
3          Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +7.232s
4          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +7.186s
5          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +9.063s
6          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +12.319s
7          Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +21.393s
8          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +21.720s
9          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +21.925s
10        Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +22.312s
11        Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +22.516s
12        Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +22.987s
13        Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +24.598s
14        Adam MORGAN (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +25.833s
15        Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +26.066s
16        Michael CREES (GBR) The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing +26.721s
17        Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD +29.535s
18        James GORNALL (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +29.718s
19        Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +30.321s
20       Andy NEATE (GBR) Motorbase Performance +33.579s
21        Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +34.205s
22        Jack BUTEL (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +37.796s
23        Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +20 laps
24        Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Power Maxed Car Care Racing +20 laps
25        Sam OSBORNE (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +20 laps

Ash Sutton produced a carbon copy of his opening race performance by doubling up in the second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship encounter at Knockhill.

Yet again, Sutton had championship leader Colin Turkington breathing down his neck for the full 27-lap duration – and this time with the BMW 3 Series the lighter of the two machines – but he was still able to keep the #1 car at bay.

Sutton perfectly positioned his car at every possible turn, giving Turkington with little opportunity of sniffing another BTCC victory, and it was the Infiniti man scoring his fourth win of the season with an impressive defensive drive.

The rivalry is nicely bubbling between both Sutton and Turkington but it's also clear that there is a huge amount of respect between the two champions.

"I’m over the moon," said Sutton. "I think I can say that it’s the best ever touring car I’ve driven. Obviously Colin put some huge pressure in at the start and we can never match what the BMW can do off the line, so that was my biggest concern. And from then on it was just a case of managing Colin from there.

"You saw he was constantly there, I was always having to look in my mirrors. I defended probably four or five times more than I did in race one. So it definitely shifted to his favour. He made one slight error 3/4 of the way through the race which just gave me that margin again to bring it home.

"I want to strap myself back in and have another go! It’s still very early doors, it’s only the fourth meeting of the season, so there’s a long way to go yet. But this was my prime time to do that, this weekend, and we’ve done exactly that in races one and two."

"It was very much like race one; the car’s evenly matched over the course of the run and I was at full tilt to try to stay with Ash and make a move, but he just has a bit more pace than us today," responded Turkington. "We went to other tracks where we’ve been stronger, but Ash has got it dialled maybe a bit better than us.  

"I think track position counts for a lot too. If you’re in the lead you can manage things, set your pace, it’s a good position to be in. But P2 for BMW again is a fantastic result, more points and hopefully I can reverse the position for race three!

"We’re at Knockhill in August which tricks your mind. It makes you think we’re nearing the end of the season but in any other year we’re really only at Oulton Park, we’re only four weekends in. I’m keeping that to the forefront of my mind and conscious just to keep scoring really good points. We’ve got a long season ahead, we go until mid-November which is a long way away."

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters' Tom Ingram was also involved in the scrap for victory during the first half of the race, before he had to turn his attentions to defending from Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish – ultimately allowing the lead duo to scamper away.

Ingram and Cammish benefitted from a lap five incident involving Motorbase Performance's Rory Butcher and MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill. Butcher nudged his way down the inside of Hill's Honda through the first complex, but couldn't get his car stopped in time for the tight right hander, eventually taking a trip through the gravel.

Aiden Moffat enjoyed one of his most competitive displays of the season so far – making a stellar move by Team BMW's Tom Oliphant to take fifth – whilst BTC Racing's Tom Chilton finished behind them in seventh.

Hill and Butcher eventually had to settle for eighth and tenth respectively following their early loss of ground with the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai of Chris Smiley wedged between them.

Senna Proctor finished 11th in his 10oth BTCC race and the Hyundai i30 N driver will start his second century of races from pole position, after the #11 was chosen at random for the final reversed grid race later this afternoon.

Josh Cook's miserable start to the season continued when he was fired out of the race on the opening lap – despite his BTC Racing team producing a herculean effort to repair his Honda Civic Type R following the opening race accident. Motorbase Performance also had a similar job to ready Andy Neate's car and they too went unrewarded when the #44 spun out of contention late on.

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Knockhill

1          Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 27 laps
2          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.662s
3          Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +4.033s
4          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +4.707s
5          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +6.282s
6          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +6.787s
7          Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +8.888s
8          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +10.972s
9          Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +11.502s
10        Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +11.820s
11        Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +12.536s
12        Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD +13.554s
13        Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +14.455s
14        Adam MORGAN (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +15.155s
15        Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +15.922s
16        Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Power Maxed Car Care Racing +17.007s
17        Michael CREES (GBR) The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing +17.485s
18        Sam OSBORNE (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +19.453s
19        Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +19.751s
20       James GORNALL (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +21.659s
21        Jack BUTEL (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +23.353s
22        Andy NEATE (GBR) Motorbase Performance +19 laps
23        Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +21 laps
24        Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +27 laps
DQ      Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com

Laser Tools Racing's Ash Sutton secured a lights-to-flag victory in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship opener at Knockhill as he fended off race-long pressure from title rival Colin Turkington.

Team BMW's Turkington got the jump by front-row starter Jake Hill on the run down to turn 1 but the BMW 3 Series had little for Sutton's Infiniti Q50 ahead of him in the early stages.

The race bunched up when a safety car period was called for following a significant accident for BTC Racing's Josh Cook at the chicane. Bath racer Cook wriggled through the notorious section of track, losing the rear-end of his Honda Civic Type R at high speed and crashing backwards into the barrier.

Turkington seemed to be the faster of the front two immediately after the restart, but realistically was never close enough to make a significant move and the same could be said for the two pairs of challengers behind them.

MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Hill held off Tom Ingram's Toyota Corolla to take his second rostrum in as many weekends, whilst Motorbase Performance's Rory Butcher maintained a similar advantage to the manufacturer-backed Honda of Dan Cammish.

Halfords Yuasa Racing's Cammish had tried to grab second in the early stages as he blasted around the outside of Hill and Turkington at the final hairpin. The downside of such an attempt is that the #27 Honda was left on the outside across the start/finish line and through the opening complex of corners, which saw Turkington, Hill, Ingram and Butcher all run line astern, eventually shuffling Cammish down to sixth.

Team-mate Matt Neal bounced back well from his big qualifying shunt to take seventh ahead of Team BMW's Tom Oliphant, whilst Aiden Moffat's ensured both Laser Tools Racing cars were inside the top nine.

Stephen Jelley was feisty throughout the contest – often fighting with the likes of BTC Racing's Cook, Tom Chilton and the Mercedes of Adam Morgan – and the Team Parker Racing driver came out on top to complete the top ten positions.

There was one other significant moment on-track when the Audi of James Gornall made heavy contact with the Ford of Andy Neate ahead of him. Both cars crawled into retirement with a furious Neate seeking out his rival following the incident. 

The Team HARD VW of Jack Goff failed to make the start after breaking down during the green flag lap.

Back at the front and it was Sutton reducing Turkington's point leads to just 13 points with the lead duo getting ready to start together on the front row for the second contest 1330.

Ash Sutton said: "It’s good obviously to get the win here for Laser Tools Racing. It’s fantastic to convert that pole into a win. Colin was there but we just managed to hold that sensible gap that we required so he couldn’t get a move in.

"Obviously the initial plan was to just break clear and the opening lap was the perfect time to do that while everyone squabbles. But the Safety Car closed that down, so it was just a case of getting a clean restart, and then managing the gap from that point onwards. Obviously he applied a little bit of pressure into the hairpin a couple of times, but it was under control.

"We’re pretty much swapping weight now, so I don’t think it’s going to have a huge impact. It’s only 6kg more. I feel like we’ve always managed weight well. Me, as a driver, and the team in terms of engineering and setting it up, we’ve got a nice little package when it comes to ballast.  So I’m confident but it’s going to be a little harder."

Colin Turkington said: "It’s nice to get race one up and running and a good result in the bag. My car had very good pace in that race, but Ash would stretch his legs in the middle sector and then I’d catch him at the end, so I was never really in a perfect position to mount an attack, but also it’s race one of the day so it’s not about throwing caution to the wind. It’s about tucking a result away and build through the day. Very happy, the BMW again is very good round Knockhill. I think we did a super job to get to P3 in qualifying yesterday so we’ve a great platform for the rest of the day.

"I was pushing all the time and  I could see the guys behind were scrapping so that’s why we edged away. I was keen to try and mount more of an attack but it’s difficult towards the end of the race when oversteer is building and the brake pedal is starting to feel a bit long. It’s very easy to be over ambitious. I did my usual thing and hopefully we can keep moving forward.

"It’s a swing; I lose 6kg and Ash to put on 6kg, that’s a 12kg swing. The level of this series, it’s so competitive that these details matter. 12kg can make the difference, I’m hoping it does."

Jake Hill said: "It’s nice to actually get a hat and trophy and finish on the podium. It’s great. We always knew it would be an uphill battle – literally – against the rear-wheel drive cars. I think I did the best I could and we managed to bring it home in third which is great.

"Probably in race three I would say the front-wheel drive cars will come back. It’s going to be really hard to beat Colin and Ash in race two but if I can stay third again that would be brilliant, or at least in the top five. I feel like the car’s good, we lacked a little bit of traction in the second half of the race and Tom started to come at me a little but luckily enough I was good enough through the chicane to keep him at bay."

2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Knockhill

1          Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing 27 laps
2          Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +0.350s
3          Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +3.541s
4          Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +4.037s
5          Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +5.215s
6          Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +6.049s
7          Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +8.683s
8          Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +8.983s
9          Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +10.237s
10        Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +12.457s
11        Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +12.468s
12        Adam MORGAN (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +16.051s
13        Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +16.529s
14        Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +18.382s
15        Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD +20.902s
16        Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +21.756s
17        Michael CREES (GBR) The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing +21.999s
18        Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +24.555s
19        Sam OSBORNE (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +25.296s
20        Jack BUTEL (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +28.561s
21        Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Power Maxed Car Care Racing +1 lap
22        James GORNALL (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +18 laps
23        Andy NEATE (GBR) Motorbase Performance +18 laps
24        Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +23 laps
25        Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +27 laps

Following an exciting qualifying session at Knockhill, listen to what the top three qualifiers had to say ahead of rounds 10, 11 and 12 of the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship today...

Ash Sutton topped the times during qualifying, resulting in a first-ever pole position for the Infiniti:

Fastest on track during FP1, MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill achieved his best-ever qualifying position and will line up second on the grid:

Reigning champion and current standings leader Colin Turkington will be looking to further add to his points tally this weekend, as the Northern-Irishman will start the opening encounter from P3:

Today's race day action will be live from 1040 on ITV2, with the races commencing at 1110, 1330 and 1655.