BTCC 2020: Sutton takes dominant Knockhill double
Sutton leads Turkington
Infiniti Q50 racer fends off title rival Turkington for a pair of victories at the Scottish circuit
Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 racer Ash Sutton took a pair of dominant victories at Knockhill to bolster his British Touring Car Championship titler challenge. Ford Focus ST driver Rory Butcher also took a race win at his home circuit.
The 2017 champion qualified on pole and took lights-to-flag wins in the first two races at the undulating Scottish track, withstanding pressure throughout both events from his chief title rival, Team BMW's Colin Turkington.
Knockhill's layout favours rear-wheel-drive machines such as Sutton's Q50 and Turkington's 330i M Sport, and helped the pair to maintain an edge over rivals despite running substantial amounts of success ballast in both events.
Jake Hill completed the podium in the first race in his MB Motorsport Honda Civic Type R, despite the best efforts of Tom Ingram (Toyota Corolla), Butcher and Dan Cammish (Civic Type R).
Ingram got a jump on Hill early in race two, and briefly pushed Sutton and Turkington for the lead before he was forced to switch attention to holding off Cammish. Aidan Moffatt took fifth in the second Laser Tools Racing Q50, with Hill fading to eighth.
The reverse grid final race of the day was initially red-flagged for a three car pile-up that blocked the track. At the restart Butcher, whose father Derek owns Knockhill, jumped past pole-sitter Senna Proctor (ExcelR8 Hyundai i30 N Fastback) and quickly pulled clear to take a comfortable win.
Proctor held on for second, ahead of Civic Type R racer Tom Chilton.
Turkington claimed through the order to finish ninth, two places ahead of Sutton to help rebuild his title lead. The Northern Irishman has a 10-point edge over Sutton in the standings, with Butcher a further 33 points back.
The next event is at Thruxton in Hampshire on 19/20 September.
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