Tom Ingram broke his 2026 jinx by winning the final race of the British Touring Car Championship’s visit to Brands Hatch from fifth on the grid.
The reigning champion sailed around the outside of reversed-grid poleman James Dorlin at Paddock Hill Bend at the beginning of the second of 24 laps, and from there on was never headed.
The irony was that Ingram and his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback had not made the most progress from the grid. He got boxed in at the start, whereas Ash Sutton burst his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium from seventh in the starting line-up to audaciously attempt a move around the outside of Dorlin’s Restart Racing Hyundai at the first corner in a bid for the lead.
Sutton then tried to pass Dorlin around the outside of Grahan Hill Bend, but could not repel a cheeky dive from Ingram down the inside of Clearways.
While Ingram pulled away, Dorlin, the only one of the top 11 on the grid to have to use the medium Goodyear tyres – among a sea of soft-shod runners – clung on impressively to second place for the first eight laps.
It wasn’t Sutton who was next to pass him; instead, that was Mikey Doble, who had pulled off an outside-at-Paddock move on Sutton at the beginning of the sixth lap.
Sutton quickly passed Dorlin too, and set about putting the pressure on Doble, setting fastest lap as he closed in.
The move finally came on the 20th lap, where Sutton pulled off the classic high and wide line at Paddock to then cut back on the run up to Druids.
By this time Ingram was four seconds to the good. The race was in his pocket and he finally took victory by 3.848s. He is now up to second in the championship, albeit 47 points behind a very strong Sutton.
“I feel like I’ve already had a couple of wins this year, but obviously not been allowed to keep them for various reasons,” said Ingram, who took the chequered flag in the qualifying race and race one at the Donington Park opener, only to lose both victories.
“We’ve done a good job. We’ve not had the rub of it so far for the first two rounds of the season, so we’ve been on the back foot. Things just haven’t fallen in our favour.
“It’s fairly evident to see Ash is going to be super-fast this year, and we’ve got to make sure we do everything we can to claw the points back.
Close behind Sutton and Doble, Daryl De Leon came through from 10th on the grid to finally get some reward after incident-packed earlier races for fourth in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport, while Josh Cook was also not far adrift, paying the penalty for a slow start from the front row with fifth in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport.
Adam Morgan gave the Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon team some consolation for its weekend travails with sixth – a good drive from 15th on the grid. Dorlin, whose steering was damaged in contact with De Leon, lost seventh to Gordon Shedden (Speedworks Toyota) on the final lap.
Completing the top 10 were race two winner Aron Taylor-Smith (Speedworks Toyota) and Aiden Moffat (PMR Audi).
Ricky Collard, whose exploits have been some of the most exciting of the weekend, was edged off the road at Surtees while battling with Sutton on the second lap, and was forced into the pits before finally retiring mid-race.
