Leaving Croft, Tom Ingram headed the championship table for the first time after a race meeting this season and he held an eight point gap over Ash Sutton. Any lingering hopes of anyone else joining their party seemed to be extinguished as third placed Dan Rowbottom was now seventy points behind. 

The week preceding the meeting in Scotland was dominated by the devastating news that the Power Maxed Racing factory had been destroyed by a huge fire and that they had lost everything, other than the transporters that were parked further away.

The BTCC community came together and they were able to loan two Cupras and incredibly they had them out on track for FP1 on Saturday. A sad end for the Astras that seem to have been around since the super touring era!  

Qualifying

The BMWs dominated qualifying with a 1-2-3 that was topped by Charles Rainford. Daryl DeLeon and the returning Jake Hill, after he missed Croft due to illness, followed. Rowbottom failed the session weight check and was disqualified, promoting Ingram to fourth, ahead of Senna Proctor and Dan Cammish. Sutton, meanwhile, was tenth. 

Race One, 6.5/10 – Jake Hill, Charles Rainford, Tom Ingram

• In bright sunshine, the majority of the grid started on the soft tyre, although Ingram went against the other front runners by running the less favoured medium. The BMWs made a formation start and their other teammate, Aiden Moffat, tried to catch them up by making a couple of positions from ninth, but the top six remained as was. 
• Proctor overtook Ingram on lap 3, while Rowbottom was already making huge gains into the pack. 
• DeLeon looked quicker than Rainford for a couple of laps, but his move to take the lead later proved to be his downfall. He took the lead with a late dive down the inside of Rainford, but ended up going over the grass to keep the place, subsequently filling his radiator with green blades. 
• A few laps later, Rainford, Hill and Proctor moved ahead of DeLeon, while Sutton was eighth after struggling to pass Aròn Taylor-Smith, but the queue of cars behind the Irishman remained for a few more laps. 
• Ingram and Cammish moved ahead of DeLeon, but with the race drawing to a conclusion, Nick Halstead remained on the apex as leader Hill tried to lap him and subsequent contact sent Halstead rolling towards the gravel, where he could not restart the car. 
• Following a safety car period of a few laps, Hill zoomed off to victory, but Sutton overtook DeLeon for seventh, Nic Hamilton suffered a broken front wheel and Proctor moved over to promote Ingram to the final podium position. 

Race Two,  7/10 – Tom Ingram, Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish

• As Ingram had used the medium tyre in race one, it meant that he didn’t have to in race two, leaving only Hill and Rainford out of the whole grid on the less favoured rubber. The pair still got away well from the line, but Proctor struggled losing three places. At the end of the opening lap, Ingram went second and Sutton fell backwards as a big gaggle of cars were together.
• At the end of lap 3, Ingram made a decisive move on Hill for the lead at the hairpin and from then on he eased out a comfortable gap for victory. Behind him, Cammish soon moved up to third and Sutton to seventh, but he wasn’t finished there as he soon made further progress on Rainford and Moffat.
• While a good battle ensued for fourth, Cammish made the most of a Hill slide at the hairpin and he powered past him on the start-finish line for second, while Proctor and Sutton followed through on the next lap. 
• A long set up from Sutton meant he could secure third from Proctor before the race settled down towards the end, other than Tom Chilton making fourteen places from the back after being disqualified from race one. 
• As Ingram was already celebrating the chequered flag, Cammish moved over on the run to the line to allow Sutton to gain a few more valuable points in his championship battle. 

Race Three, 6/10 – Jake Hill, Ash Sutton, Dan Cammish

• After creating the least disruption possible by drawing ball six from the bowl, Ingram promoted DeLeon to pole, where he was joined by Hill on the front row.
• As the lights went out, Cammish was soon third on Proctor, while at the end of the second lap, Hill found a way down the inside of DeLeon at the hairpin and Cammish was soon ahead too. Hill then zoned out and comfortably built a lead.
• In the championship battle, Ingram looked much faster than Sutton in the opening stages and despite a lunge down the inside, Sutton remained ahead, but Ingram kept trying without success. 
• On the medium tyres, Proctor and DeLeon were starting to lack pace at the mid-point of the race and there was a long line of cars fighting behind Proctor that was eventually breached by Sutton coming through and then Ingram.
• There was great entertainment between Rowbottom and Chilton with the latter finally winning the battle for fifth, while Moffat, Gordon Shedden and Adam Morgan battled to the end with the places being swapped a few times. 
• As the race ended, DeLeon had broken down in the pit entry bringing out the yellow flags, so while Sutton once again got Cammish on the line for seemingly extra points, the stewards switched the positions post-race. 

As mentioned after Croft, the help of Proctor to Ingram could be crucial given Sutton has both Cammish and Rowbottom to help him and so it proved it race one, in particular, at Knockhill. However, in races two and three Cammish’s team play benefitted Sutton. 

In the immediate aftermath of the races, there was a lot of debate around team orders and whether they should be permitted. It would seem better to do it blatantly though, rather than having a 2010 Formula One style moment of, “Fernando is faster than you!” 

While we may not like team orders and how it distorts the purity of racing, nothing will change, probably ever, but certainly not between now and the end of the season. Both Cammish and Proctor made their points by staying in position until the very end of the races, before moving over before the chequered flag. 

However, that proved costly for Sutton in the final race, given the yellow flags between the pit entry and the finish line, with no opportunity for another green flag. While Sutton fans were saying he had no choice as Cammish slowed down and Ingram fans were calling for a disqualification, the stewards ultimately got it right to switch the positions and restore Cammish to second. In racing terms, Cammish was second, Sutton was third and Ingram was fourth and that’s what the result now states. 

Cammish and Rowbottom are being team players as they are not in the championship title battle, but they can’t really complain about supporting Sutton given that they are in the same machinery as him, but they were over seventy points behind him coming into the meeting. While it’s slightly different for Proctor as he missed the first nine races of the season, he isn’t in the championship hunt either. 

Undoubtedly, team play will continue at Donington Park GP in the next meeting, but at Knockhill, Ingram was able to extend his lead over Sutton to seventeen points. The doom and gloom contingent from the Sutton fan camp seem to think the season is already over, but we have to remember we’re taking about a four time champion here. If anyone can overhaul that gap, it’s Sutton. He has consistently, and continues to, get more out of the cars he drives than anyone else in recent times, arguably ever in BTCC terms. 

2025 British Touring Car Championship after 21 of 30 rounds

1.	Tom Ingram	323 points
2.	Ashley Sutton	306
3.	Dan Cammish	226
4.	Dan Rowbottom	214
5.	Jake Hill	197
6.	Adam Morgan	170