Tom Ingram has kicked off the second half of the BTCC season in the best way possible by producing a dominant display in the opening race at Snetterton.
The Team Toyota GB with Ginsters driver stormed to a first pole position for the new Corolla during yesterday's qualifying session, and he duly converted that success into a second race win of the season.
While Ingram's first victory of 2019 came in the reversed-grid race three at Donington Park, this was the first time that the car has proven to be the pace-setter from the outset. The Bucks ace fended off Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish in the early running but last year's runner-up gradually stretched his legs to win by more than three seconds.
"It's hot, hard work out there," said Ingram. "It's about 25 degrees above ambient when you're in the car! That was just how I wanted it to go. I was happy to try and get a gap at the start and manage it from there. I was more than happy to make it a boring race for me!
"We've made a massive step forward at the test. It was so important for us. The way that the BTCC works over a race weekend, time is so tight and you can't try the things you'd like to. The team have worked so hard to get every single last bit out of it. It was better there than the Avensis ever was, and if we're there already – it's a real good sign."
Cammish claimed a lonely second whilst Sam Tordoff completed the podium positions in his Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Honda Civic Type R.
"That's a good 19 points on the board," said Cammish. "I didn't have the best of starts. It looked close to start with but I couldn't keep up and we didn't have enough in the car. He had a bit of a quicker package this morning. I could see where he was good and couldn't match it. They've worked hard, we all are. They found time that we couldn't between FP2 and Quali. I'm not just here to beat him though, I'm here to beat the rest as well."
"We'll take that," responded Tordoff. "It was a good start to the day. Dan (Cammish) was in a bit of a different race to me, even with the soft tyre on the car. The hard tyre won't be the tyre to choose. I'll ask my team-mate to see how he got on with it but we'll try and get some more points in the bag in race two."
The final place on the rostrum looked to be heading the way of Tom Chilton before a puncture fired his Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher Ford Focus out of the race.
The lead trio all ran the soft Dunlop Sport Maxx tyre with the BMW duo of Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan being the first medium compound runners home in fourth and fifth respectively.
Jordan was involved in the most high profile manoeuvre of the race as he muscled his way past Jason Plato on lap 10. Both cars touched through the Esses and Jordan completed the move at the Bombhole.
Rob Collard followed his Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing team-mate past the chequered flag to take seventh, ahead of Ollie Jackson in the Shredded Wheat-backed Focus. Jackson was involved in an earlier incident which led to the retirement of Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal, after the pair made contact.
The top ten positions were completed by Matt Simpson (Simpson Racing) and Jake Hill (TradePriceCars.com). Ninth place for Simpson was his best result of the season, having only previously scored one championship point so far, whilst Hill was the first driver to finish on the Dunlop hard tyre.
A trio of title contenders faced a difficult race with Rory Butcher, Ash Sutton and Josh Cook finishing 11th, 12th and 20th respectively.
A special mention for Aiden Moffat and Laser Tools Racing as the Infiniti Q50 finished just narrowly outside of the points on its debut.
2019 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Round 16 – Snetterton
1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Team Toyota GB with Ginsters 12 laps
2 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +3.o71s
3 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +7.199s
4 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +12.499s
5 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +16.918s
6 Jason PLATO (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +19.783s
7 Rob COLLARD (GBR) Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing +20.333s
8 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +20.492s
9 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +21.090s
10 Jake HILL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +28.584s
11 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance +29.419s
12 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +29.689s
13 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +33.946s
14 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Racing +34.871s
15 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport +36.178s
16 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +44.997s
17 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +45.475s
18 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +45.886s
19 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +46.199s
20 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +52.334s
21 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +53.244s
22 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with Motorbase +53.834s
23 Mark BLUNDELL (GBR) TradePriceCars.com +56.934s
24 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +58.699s
25 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +1m03.242s
26 Rob SMITH (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +1m06.880s
27 Michael CREES (GBR) GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct +1m41.591s
28 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +7 laps
29 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +8 laps
30 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +11 laps
