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BTCC circus heads north to Knockhill

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The British Touring Car Championship makes its annual trip north of the border this weekend as the ever Knockhill prepares to host rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the 2015 calendar.

Team BMR’s Jason Plato heads to Knockhill with a 16 point advantage at the top of the standings over team-mate Colin Turkington, the latter enjoying a strong Snetterton weekened as he kicked his championship charge into gear with a brace of victories around the Norfolk tarmac.

Team BMR secured their first 1-2-3 result at Snetterton, filling the top three spots in both qualifying and race one, and helping them stretch their advantage in the Teams’ Championship to 95 points over Honda Racing Team.

Local hero Gordon Shedden will be hoping for a more successful weekend than the one he endured at Snetterton, although he could only manage one podium result at the Knockhill visit in 2014. Shedden currently sits in third in the championship, while his Honda Racing Team team-mate Matt Neal, who also had a rough weekend at Snetterton, albeit not as badly as Shedden, currently occupies sixth in the standings.

The tough weekend for Honda allowed the MG’s Triple Eight Racing pair to close the gap in the Manufacturers’ standings to just five points, with Jack Goff securing the team’s first victory in race three at Snetterton. A string of consistent results, despite not visiting the top step this season, has kept Andrew Jordan in the hunt, holding fifth place in the standings, 41 away from Plato’s total of 230 points.

A further 30 points back in the Manufacturers’ standings sees West Surrey Racing, who enjoyed another successful weekend with Andy Priaulx taking a brace of podium finishes. On the other end of the spectrum, more contact with a team-mate for Rob Collard at Snetterton, saw the first race winner of 2015 claim his championship is now “effectively over”.

Three consecutive points finishes for Sam Tordoff sees him take fourth in the standings heading in to a traditionally strong circuit for rear-wheel-drive cars.

Meanwhile Derek Palmer, in the only other rear-wheel-drive car on the grid, will be looking to continue the Support our Paras Racing team’s progress as he took his first points at Snetterton.

Welch Motorsport will return to the grid at Knockhill, although with only one car as the TBL for the #12, previously driven by Andy Wilmot, has been cancelled by TOCA. Nicolas Hamilton will also not be present, with the AmD Tuning driver returning to the action at Rockingham, meaning 28 cars are set to contest the Scottish round of the championship.

The on-track action will kick off with FP1 at 09:30 on Saturday, while the races take place at 11:45, 14:15 and 17:05 on Sunday.

British Touring Car Championship Entry List – Knockhill

No – Driver – Team Name – Car – Engine Builder/Marque
1 – Colin Turkington – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
99 – Jason Plato – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
39 – Warren Scott – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
40 – Árón Smith – Team BMR – Volkswagen CC – Swindon/TOCA
6 – Rob Collard – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
7 – Sam Tordoff – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
111 – Andy Priaulx – West Surrey Racing – BMW 125i M-Sport – Neil Brown/BMW
31 – Jack Goff – Triple Eight Racing – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
77 – Andrew Jordan – Triple Eight Racing – MG6 GT – Swindon/TOCA
25 – Matt Neal – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
52 – Gordon Shedden – Honda Racing Team – Honda Civic Type-R – Neil Brown/Honda
4 – Mat Jackson – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford Ecoboost
44 – James Cole – Motorbase Performance – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford Ecoboost
30 – Martin Depper – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Swindon/TOCA
55 – Jeff Smith – Eurotech Racing – Honda Civic Hatchback – Swindon/TOCA
33 – Adam Morgan – Ciceley Racing – Mercedes-Benz A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
54 – Hunter Abbott – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
101 – Rob Austin – Rob Austin Racing – Audi A4 – Swindon/TOCA
67 – Robb Holland – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
80 – Tom Ingram – Speedworks Motorsport – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
21 – Mike Bushell – AmD Tuning – Ford Focus ST – Mountune/Ford Duratec
95 – Stewart Lines – JWT Performance – Toyota Avensis – Swindon/TOCA
16 – Aiden Moffat – Aiden Moffat Racing – Mercedes A-Class – Swindon/TOCA
17 – Dave Newsham – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – Swindon/TOCA
66 – Josh Cook – Power Maxed Racing – Chevrolet Cruze Saloon – Swindon/TOCA
13 – Dan Welch – Welch Motorsport – Proton Gen-2 – Welch/Proton-M
22 – Derek Palmer Jr – Support Our Paras Racing – Infiniti Q50 – Swindon/TOCA
23 – Kieran Gallagher – Tony Gilham Racing – Toyota Avensis – Toyota/Xctechr

Timetable (All times BST)

Saturday 22nd August
Free Practice 1: 09.30-10.10
Free Practice 2: 12:15-12:55
Qualifying: 15:05-15:35

Sunday 23rd August
Race 1 (24 Laps) – 11.45
Race 2 (24 Laps) – 14.17
Race 3 (24 Laps) – 17:07