Tom Ingram, Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance
Photo by: JEP
Tom Ingram won a thrilling final race of the day in the British Touring Car Championship round at Silverstone after a 25-minute red flag for torrential rain.
Ingram’s defeat of Ash Sutton after last-corner contact at Luffield means he goes to the final round at Brands Hatch just two points adrift of Jake Hill, who finished fourth.
The race looked set to be abandoned after eight laps amid worsening conditions and be declared null and void.
Ingram had taken the lead at the start from third on the reversed grid, his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback sweeping majestically around the outside of poleman Chris Smiley and front-row starter Dan Cammish at Copse Corner.
On the fourth lap, Colin Turkington, who had already twice lost time by running wide twice at Copse, appeared to be caught out by West Surrey Racing BMW team-mate Adam Morgan getting sideways under braking for Becketts, and he revolved into the gravel trap.
Out came the safety car, and while this was circulating conditions worsened to the extent that the race was red-flagged on the ninth lap.
The field was held for 25 minutes in the pitlane before restarting behind the safety car, ostensibly to get to the 50% distance at which half-points could be awarded.
But by the time this happened, the rain had stopped and after four laps behind the safety car, the green flags waved with 13 laps of racing still to come.
Sutton had stormed from 12th on the grid to third in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST before the stoppage, and at the restart he surged past second-placed Josh Cook’s Speedworks-run Toyota Corolla GR Sport on the exit of Copse by using his hybrid.
Sutton then closed in on Ingram, and the two traded fastest laps as they circulated together, the bonus point eventually going to the Hyundai man.
It all seemed over with three laps remaining when Ingram pulled out a 1.3-second gap, but Sutton came back at him. At Luffield on the final lap, Sutton’s tighter line brought him into play with Ingram’s wider arc on the exit.
The two made contact, and Sutton appeared to back off to allow Ingram to stay ahead and prevent himself getting a penalty.
Cook ran a lonely third, while Hill took fourth in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport after passing Rob Huff’s Speedworks Toyota.
Huff then got pushed sideways at Copse by the sensational Dan Zelos, who got up to fifth on his second weekend in the BTCC in an Excelr8 Hyundai before being repassed by Dan Cammish (Alliance Ford) on the penultimate lap.
Adam Morgan, Huff, Aron Taylor-Smith and Sam Osborne completed the top 10.
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Source: Autosport