Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Marcus Simmons

BTCC Silverstone: Ingram narrows points gap to Sutton with win

The result, combined with a fighting fourth place for Jake Hill, means the top three head to the final round at Brands Hatch separated by just seven points, with Sutton leading Hill by five and Ingram in third spot the further two points back.

Ingram started his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N from fourth on the grid, but found himself in the lead halfway around a turbulent opening lap.

Polesitter Josh Cook didn’t get his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R off the line quite as well as did Dan Cammish from the outside of the front row in his Motorbase Performance Ford Focus.

Cook moved across to defend, but appeared to misjudge where the Ford was – contact between the two delayed Cammish and ricocheted Cook towards Adam Morgan’s Ciceley Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport, and Morgan narrowly avoided a collision.

The Lancastrian couldn’t do that into Becketts – he locked up and gave Cook a small nudge as they arrived at the corner, sending both running wide and a gleeful Ingram into the lead.

The incidents also allowed Sutton, fifth on the grid, up to second in his Motorbase Ford, and Rory Butcher, who started seventh, into third in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla.

The remainder of the race was all about this trio, via two safety-car interruptions.

Stephen Jelley, Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

With six laps to go, Ingram had extended the gap to Sutton to over a second and finally crossed the line 1.539s to the good.

“We really needed that,” said Ingram. “The first two races were points-y, but not quite points-y enough, so it was good to get that win in the last race.

“Ash and I were just chatting, and it couldn’t have gone better.

“It was like Moses – the sea parted for us! We needed a bit of luck but I’m super-pleased to get it done.”

While it was processional at the front, Hill provided many of the race highlights in his recovery from an opening-lap incident.

The West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport came off worst in a three-abreast move into Brooklands with Morgan and Gordon Shedden, in which the Scot’s Team Dynamics Honda – squeezed in the middle – inadvertently whacked Hill to the outside.

That dumped Hill to 11th but, once he had clawed his way past defensive maestro Ollie Jackson, he set off after the leading contenders.

One by one he picked off Tom Chilton, then Cook, and then Cammish, grabbing the extra point for fastest lap along the way.

That put Hill fourth and, although he couldn’t claim any more positions, he had eroded the gap to the leading trio by the finish.

Behind fifth-placed Cammish, Cook fended off Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) and Shedden for sixth.

Jackson, at the wheel of his Motorbase Ford, somehow kept most of the rest of the field behind him as he clung desperately to ninth ahead of Aron Taylor-Smith (Team Hard Cupra).

Colin Turkington, Team BMW BMW 330e M Sport (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

The WSR BMW of Colin Turkington was in this group. The four-time champion suffered an incident early in the race at Becketts that resulted in Morgan dropping out with a spin and puncture, and Ash Hand and Ricky Collard coming together as collateral damage to cause a safety car.

Turkington recovered to 11th, but lost a spot to Dan Lloyd on the final lap to place 12th, and is now 27 points behind heading to Brands Hatch.

BTCC Silverstone - Race 3 Results

 Cla   Driver   Car / Engine   Laps   Time  Gap 
1 Tom Ingram Hyundai 24 26'34.484  
2 Ash Sutton Ford 24 26'36.023 1.539
3 Rory Butcher Toyota/TOCA 24 26'36.556 2.072
4 Jake Hill BMW 24 26'37.063 2.579
5 Dan Cammish Ford 24 26'39.208 4.724
6 Josh Cook Honda/TOCA 24 26'43.078 8.594
7 Tom Chilton Hyundai 24 26'43.408 8.924
8 Gordon Shedden Honda 24 26'44.164 9.680
9 Ollie Jackson Ford 24 26'48.481 13.997
10 Árón T.-Smith Cupra/TOCA 24 26'48.942 14.458
11 Dan Lloyd Hyundai 24 26'49.131 14.647
12 Colin Turkington BMW 24 26'49.365 14.881
13 Stephen Jelley BMW 24 26'49.486 15.002
14 Bobby Thompson Cupra/TOCA 24 26'49.867 15.383
15 Jason Plato Honda/TOCA 24 26'50.311 15.827
16 George Gamble BMW 24 26'50.434 15.950
17 Dexter Patterson Infiniti/TOCA 24 26'51.017 16.533
18 Dan Rowbottom Honda 24 26'51.449 16.965
19 Jack Butel Hyundai 24 26'51.567 17.083
20 Michael Crees Vauxhall/TOCA 24 26'51.818 17.334
21 Sam Osborne Ford 24 26'52.011 17.527
22 Rick Parfitt Infiniti/TOCA 24 26'55.563 21.079
23 Jade Edwards Honda/TOCA 23 26'57.364 1 lap /22.880
 
(24) Will Powell Cupra/TOCA 21 25'25.598 Retirement
(21) Nicolas Hamilton Cupra/TOCA 9 10'59.924 Retirement
(25) Adam Morgan BMW 5 5'59.857 Retirement
(17) Ricky Collard Toyota/TOCA 4 4'04.120 Retirement
(19) Ash Hand Vauxhall/TOCA 4 4'04.246 Retirement
  Aiden Moffat Infiniti/TOCA 0 - Retirement
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.