Currently reading: BTCC 2021: Turkington takes milestone win at Knockhill

Four-time champion scores WSR's 100th win; title rivals Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram also score victories

Four-time champion Colin Turkington scored West Surrey Racing's 100th British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) race win at Knockhill, before Ash Sutton claimed victory in the second race to bolster his bid for back-to-back titles.

BMW driver Turkington qualified on pole and dominated the opening race at the Scottish track but couldn't resist the charging Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 driver Sutton in the second outing.

ExcelR8 Hyundai i30 Fasback N racer Tom Ingram won the third race to bolster his title bid.

BMW's return to form

Perennial championship frontrunner Turkington has struggled in the last two events, with a best result of eighth from the six races at Brands Hatch and Oulton Park. But the BMW 330i M Sport racer was back on top form at Knockhill, claiming pole position and quickly pulling clear of his rivals to take a comfortable win in the opening race.

The win was Turkington's 57th, but more significantly was the 100th BTCC success for West Surrey Racing, which has been competing in the championship since 1996, when it ran the works Ford team.

Will Hoy claimed WSR's first BTCC win in a Mondeo at Silverstone in 1998, and 75 of the teams successes have come with BMWs of various forms.

Senna Proctor was second ahead of his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R team-mate Josh Cook.

Sutton keeps on charging

Sutton is one of the most dynamic and combative drivers in the BTCC, and he put in a typically dashing performance at Knockhill. Having fought his way through the field to claim fourth in race one despite running on maximum success ballast, the two-time champion quickly moved up to second behind Turkington in the second outing.

The pair had a brilliant scrap, with Sutton constantly pressuring Turkington on the undulating circuit. The fight was ultimately decided when Turkington ran briefly wide, allowing Sutton through. The result boosted Sutton's lead in the championship.

Turkington held onto second and a welcome haul of points, ahead of Jake Hill (MB Motorsport Ford Focus), Cook and Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R racer Gordon Shedden.

Ingram keeps up the pressure

Ingram has entered the weekend just a point adrift of Sutton in the standings but had lost ground after 10th and sixth-place finishes in the first two races. But he scored a vital win in the final race of the day - and in brilliant fashion.

The Hyundai man started the reverse grid fourth and worked his way past Proctor and Jason Plato (Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra) to run second behind BMW's Stephen Jelley. Ingram them pulled off an inspired pass at Knockhill's tight hairpin to grab the win.

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Proctor also worked past Jelley to claim second, while Sutton and Turkington finished fifth and ninth respectively.

Ingram's win meant he's now 14 points behind Sutton in the championship race, with Turkington a further 20 points back.

The next round is at Thruxton in Hampshire on 29 August.

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James Attwood

James Attwood, digital editor
Title: Acting magazine editor

James is Autocar's acting magazine editor. Having served in that role since June 2023, he is in charge of the day-to-day running of the world's oldest car magazine, and regularly interviews some of the biggest names in the industry to secure news and features, such as his world exclusive look into production of Volkswagen currywurst. Really.

Before first joining Autocar in 2017, James spent more than a decade in motorsport journalist, working on Autosport, autosport.com, F1 Racing and Motorsport News, covering everything from club rallying to top-level international events. He also spent 18 months running Move Electric, Haymarket's e-mobility title, where he developed knowledge of the e-bike and e-scooter markets. 

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Symanski 16 August 2021

Knochkill were definitely not prepared for the number of spectators who turned up.   Entry to the circuit was painfully slow, an hour and a quarter in a queue and we were late to arrive due to a ScotRail strike so it should have been super quick in by that time.

 

The girls doing the tickets should have been really organised by the time we got there, but they were still trying to figure out what they were doing, and that alone caused huge delays   Then parking wasn't as efficient as it was previously.

 

Recent years it's been really good, but this time I hate to say it but they simply weren't prepared enough.   It would be difficult to judge how many people would attend, but taking money off people on the way in should be the one bit you get right!

 

As for the racing, it was superb.   We only got to see two of the touring car races, and the last race was incredibly tight up front.   Sheddon showed amazing car control on the chicane as he was pushed sideways through it.

 

But you should have seen the fireball that came out the back of a Porsche Carrera when the engine blew!