WSR anticipate raucous local support this weekend for local driver Lewis Gilbert as the British Touring Car Championship ventures north of the border for its annual Scottish round at Knockhill.
The triple-header race weekend at the Fife circuit marks the beginning of the second half of season for the UK’s most popular racing series and gives the 18-time champions a great opportunity to add to their two wins so far in 2026.
Scottish rookie Lewis, who is joined by team-mates Charles Rainford and Dary De Leon, is excited for what is only his second BTCC event; the Dalry, North Ayrshire, driver having switched to touring cars from single-seaters less than a month ago.
The 22-year-old came close to scoring points on his BTCC debut last time out at Thruxton and is eager to make good on his promise in front of his home crowd aboard his BMW 330i M Sport.
Team-mates Charles and Daryl are both eager to return to the podium after enduring frustrating weekends at Thruxton last time out.
Charles has won twice in 2026 aboard his BMW 330i M Sport – those victories coming at Snetterton and Oulton Park ahead of the summer break – and the Horsham racer is determined to achieve more success in Scotland.
He headed an all-WSR top three to score his first career BTCC pole position at the 1.3-mile circuit last year and added a second-place finish while also setting the fastest race lap of the event.
Daryl, meanwhile, started second – his maiden front-row qualifying result – and scored valuable Jack Sears Trophy points during a campaign in which he would eventually become class champion.
The Anglo-Filipino, who turned 21 this week, was a double podium-finisher at Snetterton and is currently second in the Independent Drivers’ points
WSR have the best record of any current BTCC team at Knockhill with 19 race wins, including double victories in each of the past three seasons, and pole positions in four of the past five visits to the track.
HOW TO WATCH…
While all races will be broadcast in HD on ITV4 from 1030 on Sunday, agreement means that fans outside the UK and North America will be able to watch every BTCC race live on the BTCC YouTube channel. Qualifying and the Qualifying Race will be broadcast on the ITV Sport YouTube Extra channel without geographic restrictions.
NEED TO KNOW…
New for 2026 is the introduction of a Qualifying Race – the ‘Race to Pole’ on Saturdays, in what is part of a major shake-up of the weekend format.
Saturdays now feature a single, 40-minute Free Practice session in the morning, instead of a pair of 35-minute sessions.
Qualifying is just a single session, split into two groups of 15 minutes each; one for drivers finishing in odd-numbered positions in practice and one for evens.
The fastest driver overall takes pole position for the Qualifying Race with others from their session lining up on the odd side of the grid in speed order and the same happening on the even side with drivers from the slower session.
The Qualifying Race, which is two-thirds the length of a standard Sunday race, will follow with the finishing order setting the grid for Sunday’s opener and points awarded to the top 15 finishers. Sunday’s race format is unchanged.
The series’ TOCA Turbo Boost (TTB) rules have also been tweaked with drivers now able to activate their boost earlier and for longer than in 2025.
At Knockhill, Charles will be restricted to using his boost for only 11 seconds per lap during qualifying and in the Qualifying Race once he’s travelling above 115kph, and for 10 laps during Race One. Daryl and Lewis will have boost allocations of 20 seconds per lap from 105kph and for 14 laps of Race One.
These figures will be re-set on a sliding scale for Races Two and Three based on the previous race’s finishing order and then for each subsequent round based on championship order, with those highest placed allowed less usage than other drivers.
At Knockhill, soft-compound Goodyear will be the standard tyre while the medium must also be used in one of Sunday’s three races.
WHAT THEY SAID…
Lewis Gilbert: “It’s pretty cool that in only my second event in the BTCC, I have the chance to race at my home track. Knockhill’s about an hour away from where I live so it’s as local as it gets for me. Although I’ve never raced there, I’ve done a rally and I’ve driven the circuit on track days so I’m familiar with the layout and it’s a pretty testing one for just over a mile. I’ve watched BTCC at Knockhill before there and always noticed how great the support is for Scottish drivers, so hopefully we can get some good results to really get the crowd cheering.”
Charles Rainford: “I can’t wait to get to Knockhill and to the scene of my first BTCC pole position last year. After the challenging time we had at Thruxton, I’ll be very glad to be back a tight and twisty track that should suit our BMWs down to the ground. Last year it was podiums and fastest laps for me in Scotland, but this time I’m determined to get that big ‘Number One’ board and come away with a win.”
Daryl De Leon: “Going from Thruxton to Knockhill is pretty much the biggest change you can get in the BTCC – the two tracks are the total opposite. I don’t mind that, though, as Knockhill should be really good for our BMWs. The rear-wheel-drive layout means we can put the power down really well out of the hairpin and get a good slingshot up the straight. After qualifying on the front row last year, I’m setting my targets nice and high.”
Dick Bennetts, Team Principal: “Knockhill has been good to us in the BTCC over the past 20 years with lots of pole positions, wins and podiums. We’ve been fast at all the tracks we’ve expected to be fast at so we have no reason to think that won’t continue at Knockhill, where our rear-wheel-drive BMWs should perform well with the traction we can get out of the slow-speed corners. Charles and Daryl both qualified on the front row last year so we know both can be very strong here and in Lewis we have a local hero with a tartan car, so we’d anticipate a lot of Scottish support for him too. We have the potential to do very well, but we’ll have to all be at our very best to do this.”
