Morgan, Sutton and Chilton win big at BTCC Knockhill

Adam Morgan, Ash Sutton and Tom Chilton were the winners at the British Touring Car Championship’s annual trip north of the English border to Scotland as Cataclean Plato Racing enjoyed a breakthrough weekend.

After winning the Race to Pole on Saturday, Adam Morgan enjoyed a lights-to-flag victory in a wet first race of the day to give two-time champion Jason Plato his first championship round win as a team owner. Adding to the occasion was Dan Rowbotton, who finished second to give the team a one-two finish.

“We’ve just been doing our work, we came out the blocks at the beginning of the year – yeah, we were a bit fortunate, but but nevertheless, we made an impact straight away,” Plato told RACER. “I think in all the other areas apart from performance, from day one we've made our mark. We look the best, we’ve got the best livery, we’ve got the best hospitality, we have the best trucks, we have the best garage back drops. All that stuff's really important, but the performance takes a little while to get that. We've been in and around the sweet spot, we've been across it, in it, back out, and now we're getting closer.

“This is a turning point. We've now got absolute correlation with our virtual simulation software, our chassis sim, we've now got correlation because we've been able to feed it data. We're using Asus supercomputers to run that stuff – we've got some very powerful computer stuff, which, in some cases, is more powerful than the Formula 1 teams are allowed to use under the FIA regs. We don't have those regs, and our commercial partner Asus have developed supercomputers with petaflops of processing power, and we're using that to good effect. But of course, you need data to give it. So now we're accumulating data.

“Honestly, our setups this weekend were designed, created in the virtual world, and it's now starting to pay dividends. So now we've found where the sweet spot is. Now we're going to drill down to where the bullseye is. We're not there yet. It'll take a while to get there, but we have now made a big breakthrough in chassis dynamics, our damping, and also not discounting the efforts that M-Sport have put in. They've most certainly made performance inroads with the engine as well.”

Gordon Shedden split the pair on the grid and while Morgan got away cleanly to build a gap almost right away, it didn’t take long for Rowbottom to find his way past the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport driver, making the move into the first turn on lap 4.

A late safety car – on lap 18 of an initially scheduled 24 laps, extended to after Lewis Morgan was left stranded after contact with Josh Cook didn’t dent to Plato Mercedes pair’s run, and while Rowbottom ran Morgan close initially on the restart, Morgan was once again in a class of his own, eventually crossing the line 0.923s ahead of Rowbottom, with Shedden at further 0.902s back.

“It's never easy, but at the start it was quite damp,” said Morgan. “But I was quite lucky because Dan and Gordon were having a battle, which meant I could just focus on me, just putting the perfect laps. They're never perfect, but the best laps I could.

“And then at the same time I could then save my boost, so I was able to the end of the race. I had 14 laps left to boost, so I could boost to the end, and that was a big help because Dan looked quite quick towards the end, so I was happy I had them in my pocket.”

Ash Sutton finished fourth after a fine charge from 11th on the grid, with his nearest title challenger Tom Ingram right on his tail in fifth.

Ricky Collard, who was recently announced as continuing until the rounds at Croft in September amid concerns that budget shortcomings would put him out of his Team Vertu ride, was sixth, with the Power Maxed Racing trio of Dexter Patterson, Mikey Doble, and Aiden Moffat next.

Sam Osborne, returning after illness forced him out of the most previous meeting at Thruxton, completed the top-10.

RACE 1 RESULTS

For the second race of the day the rain had subsided, bringing back the rule of the previous race's top-three needing to start on the harder of the two dry tire compounds on offer. That left Morgan, Rowbottom, and Shedden at the mercy of the soft tire-clad Sutton.

The NAPA Racing UK driver disposed of Shedden off the start and immediately set about passing Morgan, who'd slipped behind Rowbottom, but Morgan was able to maintain position.

Once again there was a safety car, this time on the first lap, as Aiden Moffat went off at McIntyre's. A resulting concertina led to Ingram rear-ending Shedden, forcing the reigning champion out of the race with radiator damage.

A lap after the restart, Rowbottom could no longer keep Sutton at bay, and he passed for the lead. It was then a familiar tale as Sutton set sail for a seventh victory of the season, maintaining his run of at least one win at every race weekend so far this season.

“It was what we wanted,” Sutton said. “We didn't know how it was going to be with Tom [Ingram]. Tom was going to just be as fast, if not faster, than us, so it's a shame he had his DNF. We want to keep it entertaining. We want to keep it close, but at the same time, we don't know when my bad luck's going to kick in. So we need to capitalize when we can.

“And him being in the pit lane, then we had to maximize points there, so we went for fastest lap, lead a lap, and obviously the race win, and we executed all of that.”

Rowbottom held on for second to give Cataclean Plato Racing another podium, with Collard coming through for the final podium position.

Doble took fourth, with Race 1 winner Morgan slipping to fifth by the end of the race, ahead of Charles Rainford and Shedden.

Patterson, Dan Cammish – who recovered from 18th on the grid after a penalty for a false start dropped him down the order in Race 1 – and Osborne completed the top 10, with the latter taking consecutive top-10 finishes at the same meeting for the first time this season.

RACE 2 RESULTS

The maximum 12 cars were reversed on the grid for the final race of the day, giving pole position to Tom Chilton ahead of three NAPA Racing UK Fords of Lewis Selby, Osborne, and Cammish.

Just as the first race of the day had gone, the polesitter led from lights to flag – albeit this time in the sunshine – for a dominant first win of the season for Chilton, becoming the 10th winner in 18 races so far this season.

The NAPA Fords of Selby and Osborne didn’t remain in contention for long, Selby slipping back and Osborne going off at McIntyre's after contact with Patterson, while Cammish – running the medium tire, the harder of the two – passed Osborne before his off, but couldn’t resist a hard-charging Morgan. Now on softs, he’d progressed from eighth on the grid to second by lap nine.

Chilton, however, had more TOCA Turbo Boost (TTB) to use than Morgan, allowing him to keep the Mercedes man at a safe distance.

“I was gone within the first split second, I was in Edinburgh where everyone was in second gear,” Chilton joked. “I just was off on the line and got a great start and and thoroughly enjoyed it.

“Winning in the British Touring Cars is the hardest thing I've ever done in all the championships I've raced in. I do think this is the hardest, so I’m very happy.

“I feel I have earned it. Never giving up in that Race 1, I think, was key to the success in that last race. I was up there for Race 2 to get the reverse grid, so I’m just so happy because I do have rotten luck for whatever reason, and when it comes good, it means so much more to me than anyone can know.”

Morgan, meanwhile, put his tires to good use to stay ahead of Cammish who ended his day on a high note with third.

Despite the contact with Osborne, Patterson was able to take a career-best of fourth, ahead of the WSR BMWs of Rainford and Daryl De Leon. Rowbottom progressed from 11th on the grid to finish seventh, with Josh Cook eighth, Collard ninth, and Ingram taking a fine 10th after starting at the back of the field following his Race 2 retirement.

Ash Sutton couldn't progress from 12th on the grid with the slower, harder tire, but Ingram's non-score in the second race, allied with Sutton's three points finishes and the Race 2 win means he leaves Knockhill with an 81-point lead. A maximum of 76 can be scored over a full BTCC weekend, with four weekends of the season remaining.

RACE 3 RESULTS

The BTCC season continues on August 22-23 with a return to Donington Park, this time utilizing the full Grand Prix layout. Once again, all three championship rounds on August 23 will be broadcast on RACER Network and RACER+.