Races 19-21 of the 2025 season took place in Knockhill, Scotland. The quick, undulating nature of the circuit provided a physically-demanding battleground for Sutton, Ingram and others to fight for valuable championship points.
Headlines into the weekend were dominated by Power Maxed Racing, one week after a fire destroyed their headquarters. All vehicles, tools and equipment were lost, forcing the team into an extremely tough turnaround before Knockhill. With help from Un-Limited Motorsport and the Patterson family, PMR were able to field two Cupras this weekend in a miracle effort from the team, associates and more.
The NAPA Racing UK Fords wore one-off Race Against Dementia liveries this weekend in support of the charity, for which they raised over £10,000 over the Knockhill weekend last year.
The rear-wheel drive BMWs looked the strongest this weekend, backed up with a BMW top three in qualifying, where rookie Charles Rainford took his first ever pole, by just 0.013 seconds over Daryl DeLeon and Jake Hill. Dan Rowbottom, championship leader Tom Ingram, and Senna Proctor completed the quick six.
Rowbottom’s car was found to be underweight during post-qualifying scrutinising and therefore he was put to the back of the grid.
Race One
A clean first lap saw the three BMWs lead in formation. Proctor disposed of VERTU team-mate and hard tyre runner, Tom Ingram.
A huge lunge at turn one from DeLeon put him in first place on lap eight, albeit with a radiator full of grass as he cut across the inside of turn two. He quickly fell back outside the top five as the car grew weaker.
Rainford re-took the lead with Hill close behind, eventually swapping on lap 14 as Hill made a great exit from the final corner.
Meanwhile, Aron Taylor-Smith in ninth became a cork in the bottle as he battled fiercely with NAPA Racing UK’s Sam Osbourne.
Jake Hill ran into the back of Nick Halstead in the Power Maxed Racing Cupra, knocking him into a spin. The stationary Cupra triggered a Safety Car and the field bunched up.
Hill led the field to green with three laps to go, despite an extension to compensate for the Safety Car period. The pack remained unscathed, with exception of Nic Hamilton who picked up front-left suspension damage.
Jake Hill took the chequered flag first ahead of WSR team-mate Rainford, while Proctor gave up third place to Ingram. Chris Smiley took the Independent win over Dexter Patterson in 12th and 13th respectively.
Ingram pulled 14 points ahead of Ash Sutton in the championship picture, with Jake Hill taking fifth place off Adam Morgan.
It was Hill’s sixth time grabbing gold at Knockhill. After the race he said: “You just never know if you can still do it after [the illness].”
Speaking post-race about the contact with Halstead, the reigning champion left a cold remark: “I’m sorry Nick – but I’m not sorry – because you should drive better than that.”
Race Two
Race Two started with soft-runner Ingram claiming the lead from Hill on the medium tyres.
As the racer passed the one-third mark, Dan Cammish began to pressure Jake Hill for second place, while the BMWs of Aiden Moffat and Daryl DeLeon fought hard and fair for sixth.
Cammish cleared Hill into turn one on lap 13, with Hill taking to the escape route down the hill at Duffers.
A drama-free race two saw Tom Ingram take victory by seven seconds, and the fastest lap, out-scoring championship rival Sutton who finished second as Cammish swapped places with him before the finish line. Ingram extended his points advantage to 19 over Sutton.
Post-race, Ingram said: “Couldn’t have asked for anything more, really. What a car – honestly, the car that Team VERTU have got for me this year is just on another level, it’s just such a joy.”
Chris Smiley won the Independent Trophy again for Restart Racing.
Race Three
Ingram took the lucky dip to pick the reverse grid pole position, which fell into the hands of Daryl DeLeon.
DeLeon’s getaway from pole position was sublime, as he kept the lead over team-mate Jake Hill throughout the opening lap despite using the medium tyres.
Troubles for Max Buxton forced him to retire his Toyota Corolla early.
Hill took the lead into turn one of lap three, with Cammish following past DeLeon promptly. Meanwhile, Sutton defended hard against Ingram for fifth place, building a queue as Ingram searched for a way past the NAPA Focus.
Laps ticked by, and Ingram had not been able to pass. On lap 16, Sutton made a huge dive against DeLeon to pass him for fourth, and quickly dispatched Proctor to claim a provisional spot on the podium with Ingram chasing still.
Jake Hill took his second win of the day – his seventh ever at Knockhill – while Cammish gave up second to Sutton on the run to the line. Later on, this was reversed because the overtake was done under yellow flag conditions while Daryl DeLeon’s car was stranded by the pit entry.
In parc fermé, Hill said: “The car was absolutely perfect… We’re back with a bang,” following his absence from Croft two weeks ago.
Smiley once again took the independent victory, sweeping the day with Restart Racing.
Finishing with a fourth place, Ingram left Knockhill 15 points ahead of Sutton in the championship. Next, the BTCC will head to Donington Park in two weeks where the NAPA Fords were outstanding to open the season, giving Sutton a great chance to claw back some points in the title fight.
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