Team VERTU bagged a sixth and seventh win of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park to strengthen its bid for the 2025 title.
The EXCELR8-run team led the Drivers’ Championship going into the weekend, thanks to Tom Ingram, and was looking to close in on NAPA Racing UK in both the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ standings.
Enjoying arguably its strongest season in Britain’s premier racing series to date, Tom Chilton and Tom Ingram produced a masterclass from the very start. After locking out the front row, Chilton held the lead at the start, and although he briefly allowed Ingram through to grab a bonus point for leading a lap, the BTCC’s most experienced driver soon reclaimed his spot at the front to pick up the win.
The championship leader followed home in second to extend his margin at the top of the Drivers' Standings, with Adam Morgan beating Senna Proctor to seventh after the latter picked up early damage to his car that hampered his chances.
Proctor would unfortunately retire on lap one of the second race following a spin off into the gravel at McLeans, with Chilton also in the wars after he got caught up in contact at the restart that dropped him well outside the top ten.
Instead, it was Morgan who led the team’s challenge as he avoided the chaos ahead to work his way through into second spot. Despite a scare when he ran off track in a sudden heavy downpour, Morgan was able to retain position when the safety car was called out to neutralise the race, with Ingram - on the hard tyre - just missing out on another podium.
Able to switch back to the medium tyre for the final race of the weekend, Ingram emerged on top of a huge battle with title rival Ash Sutton to score another vital win that extends his lead to more than 30 points with six races left to run.
Chilton gained nine places from where he started to pick up a solid sixth, with Proctor bagging the final point on the hard tyre in 15th. Morgan had also looked good to score until contact at the Old Hairpin caused him to take a precautionary pitstop.
Team VERTU now leads the Teams’ Championship by two points, and is just one point off top spot in the Manufacturers’ standings.
Tom Chilton, #3 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “I’ve always said if you can score between 30 and 35 points, you're having a really nice weekend and that's what we've done. Qualifying on Saturday was great with my first pole position in the BTCC for 14 years, and we backed it up with the win in race one despite a bit of a scare with the clutch at the start - which I thought was going to go bang.
“Unfortunately, things turned a bit in race two with the contact from behind, but at least that led to an exciting final race as we battled back through the field to finish in sixth spot and score more strong points.
“Overall, it’s been a great weekend for the team and we’ve strengthened our position in the standings with just two rounds left to go - so it’s been a job well done.”
Senna Proctor, #18 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “We've had a purple patch of results since I came back onto the grid but this weekend just wasn't so kind to us. Saturday was good as we made it to Q3 again in tough conditions and showed we had the pace, but things didn’t happen for us on race day.
“In the first race, the car didn’t quite switch on in the opening laps and then we got a bit of contact at the Old Hairpin that knocked the tracking out. Things snowballed from there and after being forced onto the grass in race two, I ended up spinning into the gravel and then had the hard tyre to deal with in race three.
“We managed to salvage a point there, and credit to the team for getting me back out after fixing the car in a pretty short amount of time.”
Adam Morgan, #33 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “We got close to the Quick Six in qualifying and race one was a pretty solid start to race day as we managed to go forward from where we started, which then set us up for race two. We were on the right tyre and when it all kicked off ahead, we suddenly got up into third and were in the mix for a great result.
“Tom did his thing and let us through to go after Cammish but our pace was very equal and I couldn’t make up much ground until suddenly we got up to McLeans and the heavens had opened. It was just horrific with the rain, and luckily when we went through the gravel, we rejoined without losing a spot.
“On the hard tyre and with the reverse grid, race three was always going to be tough but we had some contact with Moffat that damaged the car, so it made sense to pit and get it checked over. It’s a shame, as we missed out on more points.”
Tom Ingram, #80 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “It’s been a really, really strong weekend and if we could have similar at Silverstone next time out then it would be great!
"We did exactly what we needed to do by maximising our performance across race day, although I’ll readily admit that we’ve had luck on our side a little bit because Ash got caught up in some drama in race two when he would probably have won. We also got a good reverse grid draw which set us up for the win in race three and means we've been able to extend our advantage in the standings.
“Once again the car has been on top form which all down to the little improvements we continue to make. It’s in such a nice place and it doesn’t seem to matter what kind of circuit we go to, it just works which is huge credit to the team.
“I don’t think there is such a thing as the perfect race car, but the Hyundai certainly isn’t far off. I’d say it’s the first time in my career that I’ve had a car that is this strong at so many circuits; it’s pretty special.”
