The EXCELR8 Motorsport-run Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS boasted three race winners and a championship challenge that lasted right until the final race of the year, as the Hyundai i30 Fastback N squad enjoyed another successful 2024 campaign.
The year got underway with 2022 Champion Tom Ingram winning from the outset, looking enthused after narrowly missing out on a successful title defence the previous season.
Despite impressively winning the opening two races, Ingram would only stand on the podium once more in the next eight bouts, although there was success for team-mate Ronan Pearson won his maiden BTCC race at Brands Hatch in only his second season in the series.
It would not only be the young Scotsman lifting trophies at that time as Tom Chilton stood next to Pearson on the rostrum, bringing home the team’s only one-two finish of 2024. Ingram was soon back at the very sharp end too, the #80 would return four podiums in five races to round out the first half of the year.
The return to racing after the summer break resumed at the North Yorkshire circuit of Croft to which the Hyundais would storm back to winning ways. The final exchange of the day this time saw Chilton stand on the top step with Ingram partnering him in third.
A number of teams had two race-winning drivers during the season – as well as one manufacturer having three victors – but only Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS could boast three race winners from the same team.
Adding to that list in the Jack Sears Trophy (JST) was Dan Zelos, competing on a one round basis for the final three events of the year. The newest driver to compete in the BTCC impressed as his nine-race stint was comparable to JST winner Mikey Doble.
Ingram would go on to win three of the last six races in his 11th season in the BTCC. Despite the Herculean effort to take the fight to Jake Hill, his championship crusade would fall short by just eight points as the chequered flag fell at Brands Hatch.
The #80 will return to the newly named Team VERTU in 2025, alongside Chilton once again. More recently the EXCELR8-run outfit has announced its third driver to compete in the form of Adam Morgan, whilst one spot still remains available. With three experienced race winners already in-line for the next campaign, Team VERTU will look to take it one step further and take top spot once more.
