BTCC heads north of the border to Knockhill
The battle for British Touring Car Championship bragging rights continues this weekend with the series’ annual visit north of the border to Knockhill in Scotland providing the setting for Rounds 19, 20 and 21 of the 2025 season.
Regarded as one of the most spectacular tracks on the calendar, the tight and twisty layout at the Fife circuit always delivers edge-of-the-seat entertainment and this weekend should be no different.
While they may not be in contention for the overall crown, all eyes are expected to be on Power Maxed Racing. Less than a week on from seeing their headquarters completely destroyed in a fire, the team will miraculously line up on the grid with two cars.
Down to the generosity of both Un-Limited Motorsport and Dexter Patterson’s family, both Mikey Doble and Nick Halstead will see out the season each driving a Cupra. That feel-good story however has meant that Stephen Jelley is now an absentee from Knockhill.
At Croft, the pendulum in the title race swung back the way of EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram and following a fraught start to the second half of the season, the Hyundai i30 driver left North Yorkshire holding an eight-point advantage over four-time champion Ash Sutton.
Both Ingram and Sutton have been the class of the field so far and the expectation is that they will be in the mix for outright honours in Scotland. While they are rightfully focused on each other, Ingram and Sutton will need to keep an eye on the pack that are all bidding to chase them down.
Dan Rowbottom and Dan Cammish have been regular visitors to the podium in their Alliance Racing Ford Focus’ whilst the Hyundai duo of Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan are both enjoying their strongest campaigns for some time.
Reigning champion Jake Hill was forced to sit out Croft on medical grounds but the expectation is that the West Surrey Racing driver will be back behind the wheel of his BMW and taking on a circuit that has proven to be a happy hunting ground for him in recent years.
Three drivers that will be looking to put on a show is three-time champion Gordon Shedden, multi-race winner Aiden Moffat and aforementioned Independent victor Dexter Paterson. The Scottish trio will be drawing on home support to secure a standout result.
Other drivers that will be well worth keeping an eye on include Speedworks Motorsport’s Aron Taylor-Smith, Restart Racing duo Chris Smiley and Daniel Lloyd, Charles Rainford, Daryl Deleon and Senna Proctor.
Qualifying at Knockhill takes place at 15:00 local time/16:30 CEST on Saturday before Sunday sees three races staged; the first at 11:25, followed by race two at 14:35 and race three at 17:25.
