Jake Hill inherits chaotic race one win as Tom Ingram excluded

Tom Ingram emerged at the front following a chaotic BTCC opener at Knockhill only to lose victory to Jake Hill after his car failed post-race ride height checks.

The race would prove to one of the most chaotic in recent memory, with the opening laps giving little indication of the drama that was to come.

From pole, Ash Sutton was able to hold his place at the head of the field ahead of Josh Cook, with Jake Hill slotting into third spot and Ingram managing to sneak ahead of Rory Butcher into fourth.

Sutton would lead the early laps before a mistake at the chicane saw him get out of shape on lap four, allowing Cook through into top spot in his Honda Civic, with the pair surviving contact as Sutton’s car got sideways and almost came back across the circuit.

The race was then thrown on its head when rain started to fall, with drivers starting to dive into the pits at the end of the seventh lap to switch to wet rubber – with Tom Chilton from ninth spot being the first driver to pit at the first real opportunity.

Ingram would be the first of the lead battle to make the call to change on lap nine, with Sutton reclaiming the lead from Cook starting lap eleven just before the Honda man went off going through Duffus Dip and into the tyres.

As Sutton tried to continue on slick tyres with his car sliding around the circuit ahead of Aiden Moffat and Rory Butcher, the safety car was deployed when Michael Crees also went off at turn one and got stuck on the grass.

On the restart, Sutton immediately diving into the pits to change to wets to leave Moffat and Butcher at the front, but both ran straight off circuit and were forced to retire – with the safety car called out once again.

With the field having now changed to wet rubber, it was Ingram who found himself leading the way ahead of Hill and Chilton, who had benefitted from his early gamble to rocket up the order.

The action would resume with two laps remaining, and Ingram scampered away at the front to cross the line first, benefitting from traffic between himself and Hill to secure a victory that looked set to move him into the championship lead with Sutton only able to take seventh – having been helped by the second safety car backing up the field.

Hill and Chilton followed Ingram home to round out the podium on the road, with Andrew Watson’s Vauxhall emerging fourth as the lead Independent.

Post race however, both Ingram and Chilton were excluded from the result, which promoted Hill up into victory and meant a second place finish for the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Andrew Watson, with Stephen Jelley taking third in his BMW.

Ricky Collard was promoted up into fourth spot ahead of Ronan Pearson – who gained two places after the exclusion of his team-mates and then a further two when both Sutton and Aron Taylor-Smith were deemed to have overtaken the rookie under yellow flags.

George Gamble, Mikey Doble and Daniel Lloyd therefore rounded out the top ten, whilst further down the order there were points for Rob Huff on his series return – taking the flag in 15th before being promoted two spots.

However, with the potential for more penalties to follow as other incidents are investigated, the results remain provisional.