Sutton wins Knockhill BTCC Race 2 13 | 08 | 2017
SUBARU CLAIMED ANOTHER 1-2 in the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill today, but the roles were reversed from race 1 with Ash Sutton finishing ahead of team-mate Jason Plato. (Related: Plato wins Knockhill BTCC Race 1)
Sutton’s fifth win of the season sees him move into second place in the championship, just two points ahead of the BMW of Colin Turkington. The former Knockhill race instructor finished third, one place ahead of his team-mate Rob Collard.
And while three-time champ Gordon Shedden brought his Honda home in sixth, Rory Butcher’s dream debut continued with an excellent ninth place. The 30-year-old from Kirkcaldy dazzled in his Motorbase-prepared Shredded Wheat Ford Focus, which had its 45kg ballast removed from Race 1.
The race was red flagged after an incident at the foot of Duffus Dip on the opening lap. The incident, triggered by Andrew Jordan tapping the rear of Matt Neal’s Honda, which in turn made contact with the Vauxhall of Senna Proctor, accounted for four cars which weren’t able to make the restart.
Ash Sutton, Subaru: “Jason kept me honest to the very, very end. It was a great race. I knew the ballast was going to bring him back to me, because he didn’t have any ballast in Race 1. So I knew it would work in my favour for Race 2.
“Even though he was on the soft compound, the ballast around here is so powerful that he just lost all his straight line speed in comparison to what I had.
“Jason and I get on really well, so there isn’t going to be any shenanigans when it comes to overtaking. We race fairly, but we race hard. But we know where we stand with each other.
“I was actually more pleased for hm getting pole yesterday than I was with my P2 on the grid. Just nice to see two Subarus on the front row. Great for the team. Obviously he’s had a tough season, but it’s great to have a strong wingman now in the title race.
“I’m now just two points behind Colin (Turkington) in the championship, so the battle well and truly on. It’s going to go down to the wire.”
Jason Plato, Subaru: “It wasn’t really the ballast that cost me in that race. I got into a little zone in the middle part of the race: at the beginning of the race it was fine, then landing off the kerb at Turn 6 at the chicane … every time I landed I just kept on going wide, and I couldn’t work out what was going on.
“I think it was just a peculiarity with the soft tyre. Then all of a sudden that disappeared, and I had pace again and I was all over the back of Ash. I could see he was then having the same problems I’d had earlier at that same place.
“Great result for the team. Fantastic. I’m just happy that I’m competitive again.”
Colin Turkington, BMW: “Third is good points again in terms of the championship. It’s a good result. It’s a little bit disappointing to follow these two guys home again, but we got everything out of the BMW again in that race.
“The balance was improved from Race 1. If the two Subarus weren’t in the race, I’d be telling my engineer that’s the best car I’ve ever driven. But obviously we’ve a wee bit of speed to find, but the car feels really good.
“The car was more manageable in that race on the medium tyre, than in Race 1 on the softs, so effectively we improved the chassis, but we still seemed to drop further back from the lead pack.
“But we’ll not give up. We’ve still the day’s final race to come.”
Related: 'Overweight' BTCC champ Gordon Shedden eyes Knockhill points haul
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news by following us on twitter.com/Scotcars
Jim McGill