Jake Hill took a maiden victory in the reversed-grid final British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill, as championship challenger Andrew Jordan retired from the race on the opening lap.
Hill took a lights-to-flag victory in the third race under sunny skies in Scotland, withstanding race-long pressure from BTC Racing’s Josh Cook to take a first win in his 108th BTCC race.
The AmD driver had to twice manage a restart, as the safety car was called on after the first lap and then later in the race.
The first safety car was needed when Senna Proctor spun his Subaru on the exit of the chicane, collecting BMW Pirtek Racing’s Jordan as he took to the grass in avoidance. The slight contact turned Jordan into the barriers before his car became beeched in the gravel.
Jordan had earlier reduced the points gap to just four points with victory in race two, but his retirement has enabled the gap to grow once again.
The second safety car phase came on lap 16 when Mike Bushell’s Honda lost its left-rear wheel, which then stopped in the middle of the circuit. Only two laps under safety car were required.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan completed the podium, having got past the Vauxhall of Jason Plato for the position on lap 14 as the Power Maxed Racing driver faded in the second half of the race.
The second BTC Honda of Chris Smiley was fourth, the Northern Irishman powering through from tenth on the grid, ahead of Tom Ingram’s Toyota in fifth.
The final seven laps of the race saw Plato drop down to eighth by the chequered flag, as Ingram, Honda’s Dan Cammish and Motorbase’s Tom Chilton picked him off in the space of three laps.
In finishing in sixth, Cammish has also moved to just 11 points adrift of the championship lead, despite only claiming one win so far this year.
Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat and BMW’s Colin Turkington completed the top ten, the latter opening his advantage over Jordan back up to ten points with a determined drive from 19th on the grid.
Honda’s Matt Neal had been running in ninth with eight laps to go, but he found himself getting shuffled around at the end of the race, including losing three places on lap 21, just missing out on the top ten.
Subaru’s Ash Sutton was 12th, ahead of the second BMW of Tom Oliphant and AmD’s Rory Butcher, who had been forced to start the race from 13th after being given a five-place grid penalty following contact with Turkington in race two.
The next BTCC round takes place at Silverstone on 28 – 29 September.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 24 | I | Jake HILL |  |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 27 | 26:30.735 | 51.195 | 1 |
| 2 | 66 | I | Josh COOK | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 1.107 | 51.261 | 2 |
| 3 | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 27 | 2.253 | 51.245 | 4 |
| 4 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 2.751 | 51.251 | 10 |
| 5 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 27 | 7.601 | 51.196 | 5 |
| 6 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 10.361 | 51.417 | 8 |
| 7 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 27 | 10.987 | 51.619 | 6 |
| 8 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 11.664 | 51.381 | 3 |
| 9 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | 27 | 12.588 | 51.699 | 12 |
| 10 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 13.209 | 51.405 | 19 |
| 11 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 14.650 | 51.358 | 15 |
| 12 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 27 | 15.303 | 51.485 | 16 |
| 13 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 27 | 16.004 | 51.137 | 14 |
| 14 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 27 | 16.080 | 51.469 | 13 |
| 15 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 27 | 17.421 | 51.686 | 18 |
| 16 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 27 | 18.071 | 51.843 | 17 |
| 17 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 27 | 18.554 | 51.374 | 29 |
| 18 | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 27 | 18.883 | 51.859 | 23 |
| 19 | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 27 | 20.524 | 51.992 | 20 |
| 20 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 27 | 21.742 | 52.080 | 21 |
| 21 | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 27 | 21.962 | 52.140 | 24 |
| 22 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 27 | 22.334 | 52.130 | 25 |
| 23 | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 27 | 23.652 | 52.116 | 22 |
| 24 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 27 | 24.930 | 52.094 | 27 |
| 25 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 27 | 25.770 | 52.017 | 26 |
| 26 | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 25 | + 2 LAPS | 51.703 | 30 |
| R | 21 | I | Mike BUSHELL | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 15 | DNF | 51.445 | 28 |
| R | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 1 | DNF | N/A | 7 |
| R | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 0 | DNF | N/A | 9 |
| R | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 0 | DNF | N/A | 11 |
