BTCC Knockhill: Sutton pips Cook to pole

The three-time champion wrung everything out of himself and his Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST in the Q2 top-10 shootout to pip the One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R of Josh Cook by 0.006 seconds.

Qualifying had started on a wet track with the entire field on grooved tyres, but at the halfway point former World Touring Car champion Rob Huff was the first to emerge on the soft-compound slick Goodyears, and the crossover point soon emerged.

The One Motorsport Hondas had quickly emulated Huff, with Cook and Aiden Moffat taking turns at the top of the times.

But conditions were still tricky, as Thruxton poleman Dan Cammish found his Motorbase Ford snapping off the road at Butchers while he sat on provisional pole.

The damage from his trip across the grass sidelined him for the remainder of the session, dropping him to 23rd in the final order.

An off for Stephen Jelley’s West Surrey Racing BMW in the same vicinity caused a red flag during the final minute, and the clock was reset to five minutes remaining.

Rory Butcher and his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla were fastest at this stage, but he failed to improve during the final five minutes and fell to sixth.

Cook set the quickest time, but this was deleted for a track-limits transgression so it was Jake Hill and his WSR BMW that finally topped Q1, 0.090 seconds clear of Cook’s fastest legal effort.

A flapping front splitter on Hill’s BMW betrayed an off earlier in the session that ripped off the floor, so he counted himself fortunate to be able to get back into the fray.

Cook, with 11 seconds of hybrid per lap available to him at a minimum of 125km/h, looked good for pole as Q2 entered its closing stages.

But Sutton, with the minimum 1s hybrid at 135km/h, pulled off a sublime effort to keep up the NAPA-liveried Fords’ run of every single pole position in 2023 – the Focuses now on seven out of seven.

Cook missed out on pole by 0.006s to Sutton (Photo by: Motorsport Images)

“This car is phenomenal on the soft tyre, and I just had to dig deep, and I did exactly that,” said Sutton.

“Through the chicane it was a complete opposite-lock, typical Ash Sutton job.

“It’s been a bit of a rough day – we had a damper issue in FP2, which limited our running, so to roll it out and get it on the front row is just a mega job.”

While Cook’s sector times put him on pole on theoretical bests, Hill was also close at hand – on 7s/130km/h of hybrid he qualified third, just 0.029s away from Sutton.

Butcher was fourth on his home ground, on the full 15s/115km/h of hybrid, while reigning champion Tom Ingram took fifth in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, on 3s/135km/h hybrid.

Adam Morgan showed well to end up sixth, separated from his WSR BMW team-mate Colin Turkington by Moffat.

It was a low-key showing from Turkington, who was close to the bubble in the closing stages of Q1 on 5s/135km/h hybrid – both he and Moffat had moments in the gravel in the Q2 shootout.

Tom Chilton celebrated clambering back into Q2 after dropping out late in Q1 by claiming ninth in his Excelr8 Hyundai, with Dan Lloyd and his Team Hard Cupra Leon completing the top 10.

BTCC Knockhill - qualifying result Q1

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

     

Driver Info			Main Information
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	J. Hill Jake Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	24		BMW 330e M Sport	16	51.535		88.500
2	J. Cook Josh Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing	66		Honda Civic Type R	30	+0.090	0.090	88.346
3	A. Sutton Ashley Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116		Ford Focus ST	28	+0.182	0.092	88.188
4	T. Ingram Tom Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	1		Hyundai i30N	23	+0.183	0.001	88.187
5	A. Moffat Aiden Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing	16		Honda Civic Type R	27	+0.235	0.052	88.098
6	R. Butcher Rory Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	6		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	27	+0.255	0.020	88.064
7	D. Lloyd Daniel Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	123		Cupra León	25	+0.292	0.037	88.001
8	T. Chilton Tom Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	3		Hyundai i30N	22	+0.362	0.070	87.883
9	C. Turkington Colin Turkington Team BMW	4		BMW 330e M Sport	29	+0.365	0.003	87.877
10	A. Morgan Adam Morgan Team BMW	33		BMW 330e M Sport	30	+0.369	0.004	87.871
11	R. Collard Ricky Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	37		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	28	+0.404	0.035	87.811
12	A. Taylor-Smith Aron Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing	40		Vauxhall Astra	28	+0.487	0.083	87.671
13	D. Rowbottom Daniel Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32		Ford Focus ST	27	+0.514	0.027	87.626
14	R. Pearson Ronan Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	14		Hyundai i30N	27	+0.536	0.022	87.589
15	A. Watson Andrew Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing	11		Vauxhall Astra	27	+0.539	0.003	87.584
16	S. Osborne Sam Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77		Ford Focus ST	27	+0.620	0.081	87.448
17	G. Gamble George Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	42		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+0.868	0.248	87.034
18	S. Jelley Stephen Jelley Team BMW	12		BMW 330e M Sport	24	+0.927	0.059	86.936
19	J. Edwards Jade Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	99		Cupra León	30	+0.960	0.033	86.881
20	R. Huff Rob Huff Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	79		Cupra León	26	+1.015	0.055	86.790
21	D. Patterson Dexter Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	17		Cupra León	29	+1.057	0.042	86.721
22	M. Doble Mikey Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing	88		Vauxhall Astra	24	+1.150	0.093	86.568
23	D. Cammish Dan Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus ST	17	+1.223	0.073	86.448
24	J. Butel Jack Butel Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	96		Cupra León	30	+1.262	0.039	86.384
25	M. Crees Michael Crees BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	777		Cupra León	25	+1.283	0.021	86.350
26	N. Halstead Nick Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	22		Hyundai i30N	27	+2.005	0.722	85.186
27	D. De Daryl De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	18		Cupra León	17	+5.199	3.194	80.390
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