Following a NAPA Ford dominated meeting at Croft with a double 1-2-3, would the pattern continue in Scotland? Ash Sutton arrived at Knockhill with a six-point championship lead over Tom Ingram, although it could have been more had he not failed to finish in race three for the second consecutive meeting. 

Qualifying – Ash Sutton, Josh Cook, Jake Hill, Rory Butcher, Tom Ingram, Adam Morgan

Sunshine made an appearance for qualifying after wet free practice sessions, meaning the drivers were going into qualifying with unknown levels of grip on a dry circuit. The Top Ten Showdown format was once again used and Sutton claimed his fourth, and NAPA’s seventh, pole position of the season, despite having the least amount of hybrid available to him. Josh Cook continued his resurgence from Croft by joining Sutton on the front row, with Jake Hill and Rory Butcher on the second row. Ingram qualified fifth alongside Adam Morgan, with Colin Turkington, third in the championship, in eighth. 

Race One, 8/10 – Tom Ingram*, Jake Hill, Tom Chilton*, Andrew Watson, Stephen Jelley**, Ricky Collard**

• The leading drivers initially remained in position, but as Butcher tried on Hill at the end of the lap, Ingram nipped through to take fourth. It soon became clear that Cook was quicker than Sutton and he took the lead on lap 4, with Hill in close attendance too. 
• Lap 6… RAIN! By lap 8, some drivers were starting to pit for wet tyres as Cook and Sutton continued their battle at the front. The inevitable contact happened on lap 11 and Cook was sent flying into the barriers. That was a cue for more drivers to pit and by lap 14, only the top 7 remained on the soft tyre, while Sutton had a lead of six seconds. 
• The stricken car of Michael Crees required the safety car and at the end of the period, Sutton headed for the pits, such was the level of water on the track. However, as soon as the racing restarted, leader Butcher ended up in the gravel for yet another safety car session, in which Daryl DeLeon lost a wheel. 
• The race resumed with a couple of laps to go and the field were completely out of sync with lapped cars between those on the leading lap, such was the chaos of the pit stops and track conditions. It meant that Ingram, who was one of the first to stop for wets, took the chequered flag from Hill and Tom Chilton, who had also stopped early for wets. 

* As Ingram and Chilton had stopped so early for wet tyres, it meant that their tread blocks had worn down so much that they both failed the post-race ride height checks and were both subsequently disqualified from the result with Hill inheriting the win from Andrew Watson. 

** Although Stephen Jelley crossed the line in third, he was one of many drivers to receive a time penalty for yellow flag infringements and he was demoted to fourth, with Ricky Collard moving up to third. 

Race Two, 7/10 – Jake Hill, Ash Sutton, Stephen Jelley

• Hill made a great start on a dry track as Watson fell down the grid and Sutton, who’d incredibly finished the first race in sixth, was already third by the time the safety car was needed to help the marshals push Jade Edwards out of the barriers. 
• Racing quickly resumed with Sutton taking second from Jelley and a strong showing from Árón Taylor-Smith moved him up to fourth. 
• Ingram and Cook, who had both started at the back of the grid, powered through the pack throughout the race with both of them making 16 places with Cook finishing eighth and Ingram tenth. 
• At the front Sutton had closed the gap to Hill and by lap 17, Hill was starting to look a little loose, but despite intense pressure, Hill was able to keep the championship leader at bay in a great battle, with Jelley a whopping twelve seconds behind the pair and Taylor-Smith and further six.  
• There was disaster for Turkington with a couple of laps remaining as he ended up in the barriers after being hit in the side by NAPA’s Dan Cammish. Turkington had already recovered to a points position after being run out wide by George Gamble earlier in the race. Cammish went unpenalized for this race-ending contact, however.

Race Three, 7/10 – Ash Sutton, Josh Cook, Tom Ingram

• Ronan Pearson, a season’s best fifth and seventh in the first two races, was drawn on pole for the final race of the day, which started under the safety car following another heavy downpour moments before the scheduled start. As such, racing properly started on lap 6, with Ingram immediately pouncing to take two places to eighth at the first opportunity. 
• In the couple of laps of racing before a safety car to recover Nick Halstead, Cook was fighting Hill for sixth and there was a good battle between Collard, Dan Lloyd and Jelley. As Collard held Jelley up, Sutton was able to nip by them both. 
• As the racing re-started, Hill got it all wrong at the hairpin and smashed into teammate Jelley, turning them both around, although Hill was able to get going more quickly, but will now serve a three-place grid penalty in the next round.
• Sutton soon moved up into the lead as first he passed Lloyd and then Pearson, after he ran wide. As Sutton scampered off, Cook moved ahead of Pearson too, while last lap team orders meant that Ingram took the final podium place ahead of the Scot. The rain made for another entertaining race as battles happened throughout the pack.

At the end of the day’s racing, it turned out to be an excellent meeting for Sutton with a mixture of great driving and bad luck for notably Ingram. Sutton now leads the championship by an ominous 37 points and realistically it could be more given how the season has played out. It does feel like the championship standings are now reflective of how dominant Sutton has been. 

However, fans want a close battle and Ingram’s disqualification in race one and subsequent start from the rear of the grid has really handed the advantage to Sutton. Ingram was already up against it as Sutton’s car seems to be a monster on every track that it visits, regardless of whether it is supposedly a rear wheel drive favoured circuit or not. 

NAPA have taken pole position at every single circuit this season, which is an incredible fact for a series that promotes itself as having close racing and similarly matched cars. Not only that, but Sutton has taken four of those poles and that’s with severely limited hybrid use each time. Whether hybrid restrictions are working is an argument that we’ve had before and we’ll save now for another day. 

Knockhill produced the most entertaining set of races of the season, of course helped by the delightful British summer weather. Race one, in particular, was wild. Had there been more racing laps, and not so many behind the safety car, it would surely have been rated as 10/10, given the great entertainment it provided. At points, it was impossible to tell the positions of the drivers given its chaotic nature of overtakes and pit stops. Knockhill’s lap is so short in time, yet it works, did help to contribute to the confusion as a pit stop meant that most drivers went a lap down. 

Even race two in the dry was better than most of the races this season. However, for Turkington, it could be the most damaging race of the season. After being run out wide early on by Gamble, his recovery to the points was ruined by Cammish, crashing into the side of him. Turkington arrived at Knockhill third in the standings, albeit 34 points behind Sutton, but left Scotland in fourth, 81 points behind. With just nine races to go, even the most optimistic Turkington fan must think that his championship challenge for 2023 is realistically over. 

Turkington’s teammate, Hill, remains in the hunt, although despite his double win, is still 50 points behind Sutton. It is going to require some series of events for Hill to win the title, but given his strong showing at Knockhill and luck permitting, he has a small chance. 

The next meeting sees the BTCC returning to Donington Park’s GP circuit layout, for the first time in over 20 years. The clever money would be on another NAPA pole, probably for Sutton, and more NAPA domination on Sunday. However, the BMWs should go well given that there are a few corners where their rear-wheel drive traction should benefit them, so that could play into Hill’s hands. Could the championship battle really be alive? 

2023 British Touring Car Championship Standings after 21 races:

1.	Ashley Sutton	310 points
2.	Tom Ingram	273
3.	Jake Hill	260
4.	Colin Turkington	229
5.	Dan Cammish	220
6.	Josh Cook	191