BTC Racing on the Pace Again at Knockhill

Our BTCC partners BTC Racing had another strong weekend at Knockhill, with another podium for Josh Cook and a string of points finishes from both drivers.

Qualifying was very close between the different teams and drivers, with only a few tenths of a second making the difference between the front row and the midfield. In the tight conditions it was a game of two halves for the BTC Racing drivers, with Chris Smiley performing well and starting from 9th on the grid, whilst Josh Cook struggled for pace and ended up down the back in 20th.

Both drivers performed well in Race 1, with Chris fighting his was further up towards the front and finishing the race in 6th. Josh too had a stellar drive, gaining 7 places to finish in 13th, despite being on the slower Medium compound tyre.

In Race 2, Chris was caught up in some scuffles early on and dropped back to 9th after being forced wide at McIntyres. He then found himself struggling for pace on the Medium tyres. Josh meanwhile was doing well, climbing further up the leaderboard until he was up behind Chris in 10th. Chris took one for the team, allowing Josh past him into 9th, but unfortunately was caught out by Jake Hill also sneaking past him and ended up finishing in 11th.

The reverse grid was another bit of bad luck for Chris, narrowly missing out on it to start Race 3 in 11th. Teammate Josh however was bang on the money and lined up on pole for the final race of the day. However he was immediately engaged by Josh Hill behind him, and after battling all race, eventually conceded the lead to come home in 2nd, with a very much deserved podium as a consolation prize. Further back, Chris was not going to let bad luck get in his way and fought his way back up to finish in 4th – an amazing result for himself and the team!

After all three races, Josh is now a point clear at the top of the Independent Drivers’ standings and is 4th overall. BTC Racing meanwhile is 2nd in the Independent Teams’ standings and also 4th overall.

Next up for the BTC Racing is their home event at Silverstone at the end of September. We’ll join you all there for some more BTCC action!

Photo c/o BTC Racing