The second race of the day for the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship got underway at Knockhill in sunnier conditions this afternoon, with Rory Butcher once again on pole position.
Before the race, there were a number of interesting scenarios with Jordan, Butcher and Turkington all on the medium tyre, whereas Cammish was lining up on the gird on the preferred soft option tyre. Additionally, Butcher was lumbered with more weight whilst Turkington would loose a little from his 330i M-Sport.
As the race got underway, Jordan made it to the front straight from the off, and basically hustled his way to his sixth win of the season. Cammish, try as he may just couldn’t bridge the gap and had to make do with another podium finish. Butcher did hold on for another podium in third, however, there will no-doubt be an appeal or protest from Team BMW for an incident that took place just a few laps into the race.
Cammish made a last-ditch move on Butcher into the Hairpin, which in turn brought Turkington into play heading up the main straight at Knockhill. Turkington edged through on the lead up to Duffus and as Butcher closed in going through Leslie’s the Honda driver pulled to the inside of the circuit to head for the apex at McIntyre’s. But, when there, Turkington pulled across to make his apex and a clash was unavoidable – with Butcher claiming in his post-race interview that he tried to pull out of the move. We can imagine, that any appeal from the BMW camp would be counter appealed by AmD – if the data shows intent on Rory’s behalf to pull out of the move – but then, we are not officials.
All that aside, Turkington was spun into the gravel, and despite managing to salvage the car from the trap, he could only make up a few places to P19 and out of the points. That moment, could prove significant in the 2019 title battle as Jordan closes to within 4 points of teammate Turkington with one more race at Knockhill to go.
Jordan also has the preferred soft option for the final race, as does Turkington; however, Jordan will start the final race of the day at 5.05pm this afternoon nine places further up the grid than his BMW stablemate – but with more weight on board following that success in Race 2. Turkington, will be lighter on weight and on a mission… so watch this space.
If Butcher can hold onto his podium from Race 2, and make up some ground from 8th on the grid in the final race – with less weight and the soft tyre – he could also propel himself firmly into the Championship battle.
It’s going to be an epic final race that is for sure!
**Update** Rory keeps podium but receives a 5-place grid penalty for the final outing of the day at 5.05pm.
