BTCC BMW drivers hit trouble in title battle
The battle for the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship took several dramatic twists at Knockhill, with title contenders Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan both involved in dramatic incidents.
Jordan had entered the weekend trailing his fellow BMW 3 Series driver by 30 points, but a race two win – combined with an incident for Turkington – moved him to within four points of the lead. But Jordan’s luck changed when he was taken out of the final race, with Turkington salvaging tenth to restore his lead in the standings to ten points.
The title contenders didn’t take all the attention. Local star Rory Butcher took pole position at the circuit his father owns, and followed up with victory in the first race. The Honda Civic Type R driver led Jordan throughout, and survived a side-by-side battle with the BMW man on the final lap.
Dan Cammish finished third in his works Civic, with Turkington fourth.
The BMW’s rear-wheel-drive helped Jordan grab the lead at the start of race two, with Butcher soon coming under pressure and losing second to Cammish. Butcher then found himself under pressure from Turkington, with the championship leader eventually battling past at the first turn. Butcher tried to regain the spot with a late move at a tight right-hander, but made contact with Turkington, pitching the BMW into the gravel.
Butcher held on to finish third behind Jordan and Cammish, but was later penalised five places on the grid for the final race.
Having finished tenth in the second race, Audi S3 driver Jake Hill drew pole position for the reverse grid finale, and duly controlled the race throughout, surviving a safety car restart to take his first BTCC win ahead of Josh Cook (Civic Type R).
There was more drama behind, with Adam Morgan battling up to third in his Mercedes A-Class ahead of Chris Smiley (Civic).
Jordan was involved in some early contact, but his race ended in disaster when Senna Procter spun his Subaru Levorg ahead of him. Jordan was unable to avoid the spinning car, and was pitched into the gravel and out of the race.
From the back of the grid Turkington was able to battle up to tenth, scoring some valuable points to rebuild his title lead with six races remaining.
The next event is at Silverstone on 29 September.
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