BTCC: Championship Drama North of the Border

Rounds 22, 23 & 24 of the British Touring Car Championship saw series leader Colin Turkington’s gap at the top of the standings dramatically cut to just ten points in a season-defining Sunday at Scotland’s Knockhill circuit.

Turkington also had to see his number one rival in the standings Andrew Jordan pick up his sixth win of 2019 before Jordan himself scored a DNF in race three. The third protagonist in the title fight Dan Cammish scored three top seven finishes as he closed in to the two BMW’s.

The race weekend was tinged with sadness as AmD Tuning’s Sam Tordoff announced he wouldn’t be competing at Knockhill after the passing of his son Arlo on September 7th. The thoughts of everyone at Motorsport Radio are with Sam and wife Georgina at this time. He was replaced for the weekend by Mike Bushell who was previously the driver coach for teammate Rory Butcher.

There were no ill-affects for the Scotsman Butcher though as he topped both practice sessions on Saturday before taking pole position by nearly a quarter of a second from Cammish. Jordan would line up third with Turkington sixth with maximum ballast.

Race One

Rather unsurprisingly, Jordan used his rear-wheel drive start-line advantage to pull ahead of Cammish but couldn’t get his nose ahead of the fiercely determined Butcher. Further down the field, Michael Crees had a spin and the unfortunate Nic Hamilton couldn’t avoid a collision and both cars were out on the spot as a safety car was deployed.

There was plenty of shuffling when the race got back underway which eventually saw Turkington emerge in fourth passing Tom Chilton’s Motorbase Ford Focus as he hunted the podium occupied by his two rivals.

The race for the lead had stayed stagnant for the entire race until Jordan got unbelievable drive out of the hairpin for the penultimate time and just squeezed ahead but he ran wide at Duffus Dip and Butcher charged back through and held on to take a memorable win on home soil. Cammish held off Turkington for the final spot on the podium.

Podium: Butcher; Jordan; Cammish

Race Two

Much like he had done in race one, Jordan flew away at the start and got his nose across in front of Butcher to take an early lead, while Ash Sutton began charging through the field after a retirement in race one. Butcher was then overtaken by Cammish and Turkington on lap six but then came the big talking point of the day. Frustrated with losing two positions, Butcher made a desperate lunge under Turkington at the bottom of the hill but the move was never on and he spun the BMW into the gravel. Turkington was able to get back going again but it would be damage limitation from 27th. He would eventually finish P19.

The race at the front had died down after that with Jordan comfortably winning from Cammish and Butcher who would avoid a time penalty for the incident but would have to start five places further back in race three.

Podium: Jordan; Cammish; Butcher

Race Three

Jake Hill was selected on pole thanks to the reverse grid, with Josh Cook lining up alongside him on the front row. Jordan would start in ninth and wouldn’t make it round the first lap as Senna Proctor spun in front of the Pirtek-BMW and he couldn’t do anything to avoid an accident.

With one BMW out and the other starting well down the grid, Cammish looked to capitalise and score big points in the championship but struggled to find the speed he’d shown all weekend and got caught up in a number of squabbles before coming home in sixth.

Turkington did manage to salvage some points after being stuck behind Sutton’s Subaru for a good 20 laps, finishing tenth in the final race of the weekend but no one could get close to Hill who avenged the win stripped of him at Oulton Park to take his first BTCC victory and make it ten different winners in 2019. Cook kept some pressure on lap after lap but was never close enough to worry the Audi driver, Morgan did a quiet, yet solid job coming home third.

Podium: Hill; Cook; Morgan

Championship Standings

The lead of Turkington’s has been cut from 30 to just ten points to Jordan but Cammish only sit one point further back in a proper three-way scrap for the crown. Cook is 30 points off the lead and would need more weekends like this one in order to have a realistic chance. But this is the BTCC and that is more likely to happen than not…