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Autosport

Sport

Marcus Simmons

BTCC Brands Hatch: Ingram pips Hill to top free practice

Ingram BTCC Ash Sutton Jake Hill Bobby Thompson BMW Honda Vauxhall

Ingram faces a mountain to climb if he’s to make it back-to-back titles – the only rival to three-time champion Ash Sutton is 45 points adrift heading into the competitive action – but he was on form in the opening session early on Saturday morning.

Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N headed the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport of Jake Hill by a mere 0.018 seconds in FP1, and neither driver’s times were beaten in the lunchtime FP2 session.

With the Brands weekend unusually featuring tyre choice for qualifying – the Goodyear medium or soft compound – most of the leading times were set on carry-over soft rubber from previous race weekends, including those of Ingram and Hill.

“It’s a weekend of maximum attack from our side,” promised Ingram. “There’s not really a lot what we can do [for the championship].

“We’re just going to do the best job we can, and if anything happens on Ash’s side we need to capitalise on it.”

Sutton, driving his Ford Focus ST run by the renamed Alliance Racing squad, was just 0.172s adrift of Ingram’s best in third fastest in FP1, but languished 18th later on – he was one spot behind 17th-placed Hill, with both on medium tyres, and his earlier best dropped him to sixth overall.

Up into third overall with the fastest time of FP2 came Josh Cook at the wheel of his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.

The West Countryman edged out Ricky Collard’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla by the tiny margin of 0.004s, and his second fastest time was also quicker than the Hampshireman’s best – by 0.001s.

Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Also on form was Bobby Thompson in his Team Hard Cupra Leon – the hard-trying Essex man went third in FP2, fifth overall, and set a time during an earlier run on medium tyres just 0.15s adrift of his best on softs.

Insight: The potential BTCC race winner trying to make it to the front

Fourth in FP2, and seventh overall behind Sutton’s FP1 time, was Silverstone poleman Mikey Doble with his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra, just ahead of team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith.

Stephen Jelley’s FP1 best in his WSR BMW was good for ninth overall ahead of the sister machine of Colin Turkington, who was sixth in FP2 – the four-time BTCC champion set the quickest time on medium rubber in that session, just 0.021s ahead of Ingram, followed by Thompson’s medium effort.

Each session featured a red flag, with FP1 interrupted midway through when Adam Morgan parked his WSR BMW on Cooper Straight with a broken propshaft, and FP2 halted in the early knockings to retrieve the One Honda of Aiden Moffat from the Hawthorns gravel trap.

BTCC Brands Hatch - Practice results

FP2

Driver Info

Cla	Driver	#	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	J. Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing	66	Honda Civic Type R	13	1'30.784		96.487
2	R. Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	37	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+0.004	0.004	96.483
3	B. Thompson Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	19	Cupra León	12	+0.095	0.091	96.387
4	M. Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing	88	Vauxhall Astra	13	+0.135	0.040	96.344
5	A. Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing	40	Vauxhall Astra	12	+0.147	0.012	96.332
6	C. Turkington Team BMW	4	BMW 330e M Sport	15	+0.183	0.036	96.293
7	T. Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	1	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	11	+0.204	0.021	96.271
8	T. Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	3	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	12	+0.241	0.037	96.232
9	A. Morgan Team BMW	33	BMW 330e M Sport	15	+0.245	0.004	96.228
10	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27	Ford Focus ST	13	+0.285	0.040	96.186
11	R. Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	6	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+0.313	0.028	96.156
12	A. Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing	11	Vauxhall Astra	13	+0.316	0.003	96.153
13	G. Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	42	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+0.406	0.090	96.058
14	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32	Ford Focus ST	12	+0.410	0.004	96.054
15	S. Jelley Team BMW	12	BMW 330e M Sport	16	+0.414	0.004	96.049
16	D. Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	123	Cupra León	13	+0.483	0.069	95.977
17	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	24	BMW 330e M Sport	12	+0.581	0.098	95.874
18	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116	Ford Focus ST	12	+0.700	0.119	95.749
19	A. Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing	16	Honda Civic Type R	9	+0.790	0.090	95.655
20	R. Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	14	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	14	+1.070	0.280	95.364
21	J. Gornall Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	180	Cupra León	12	+1.181	0.111	95.248
22	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77	Ford Focus ST	13	+1.275	0.094	95.151
23	D. De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	18	Cupra León	13	+1.456	0.181	94.964
24	D. Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	17	Cupra León	11	+1.503	0.047	94.916
25	J. Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	99	Cupra León	14	+1.668	0.165	94.747
26	M. Crees Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	777	Cupra León	12	+1.822	0.154	94.589
27	N. Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	22	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	14	+1.865	0.043	94.545
View full results

FP1

Driver Info

Cla	Driver	#	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	T. Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	1	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	11	1'30.712		96.564
2	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	24	BMW 330e M Sport	17	+0.018	0.018	96.545
3	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	116	Ford Focus ST	14	+0.172	0.154	96.381
4	R. Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	37	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+0.203	0.031	96.348
5	S. Jelley Team BMW	12	BMW 330e M Sport	14	+0.251	0.048	96.298
6	B. Thompson Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	19	Cupra León	12	+0.278	0.027	96.269
7	C. Turkington Team BMW	4	BMW 330e M Sport	16	+0.312	0.034	96.233
8	R. Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	6	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+0.463	0.151	96.074
9	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27	Ford Focus ST	15	+0.505	0.042	96.029
10	G. Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	42	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+0.759	0.254	95.763
11	J. Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing	66	Honda Civic Type R	14	+0.840	0.081	95.678
12	T. Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	3	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	14	+0.852	0.012	95.666
13	A. Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing	40	Vauxhall Astra	14	+0.883	0.031	95.633
14	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32	Ford Focus ST	14	+1.067	0.184	95.441
15	A. Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing	16	Honda Civic Type R	13	+1.077	0.010	95.431
16	A. Morgan Team BMW	33	BMW 330e M Sport	10	+1.089	0.012	95.419
17	M. Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing	88	Vauxhall Astra	14	+1.318	0.229	95.181
18	D. Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	123	Cupra León	12	+1.352	0.034	95.146
19	R. Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	14	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+1.440	0.088	95.055
20	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77	Ford Focus ST	14	+1.472	0.032	95.022
21	A. Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing	11	Vauxhall Astra	14	+1.518	0.046	94.975
22	D. Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	17	Cupra León	13	+1.656	0.138	94.833
23	D. De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	18	Cupra León	14	+1.837	0.181	94.647
24	M. Crees Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils	777	Cupra León	12	+1.892	0.055	94.591
25	N. Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8	22	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+2.939	1.047	93.534
26	J. Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.	99	Cupra León	10	+4.166	1.227	92.324
27	J. Gornall Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown	180	Cupra León	9	+5.287	1.121	91.246
View full results

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