Ingram Wins To Keep Title Hopes Alive

Speedworks Motorsport's Tom Ingram produced one of his trademark drives through the field to win Round 26 of the 2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone.

The Toyota star has previously displayed his fighting spirit with efforts from the back of the grid to the podium at both Rockingham and Knockhill, and this one will also live long in the memory as he blasted from 15th to victory in the blink of an eye. A ballast-free Avensis running of the softer Dunlop SportMaxx tyre compound is often a lethal combination, and so it proved around the 1.64-mile National circuit.

Having already seen off a number of rivals Ingram's move into second was breathtaking as he passed both Tom Chilton's Ford and Adam Morgan's Mercedes in one move. He reeled in Sam Tordoff's Team GardX Racing with Motorbase Ford Focus and nipped by with relative ease before pulling away to take his third win of the year.

In doing so, Ingram has closed the gap to reigning championship leader Colin Turkington and has ensured that the race for the title will go down to the wire at Brands Hatch in two weeks' time.

"What a car," said Ingram. "We said that we were going to have a rocketship before that race. You take the weight out of the thing and it’s pretty special. The calibre of the field in the BTCC is second to none. You can’t think you’ve got anybody beaten with some of the best drivers around on the grid. We know we’ve got a good car and a great bunch of guys behind us but you can just never put it past anybody.

"We had to be strong and come through the field and we needed to do it. We lost points to Colin (Turkington) in the first race because of the hard tyre. We knew we’d lose ground there but that we had to make it back up in race two. The support I’ve had from home and leading up to this has been incredible."

Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport's Morgan eventually claimed second from the slightly fading Tordoff, although the latter did extremely well to follow up his earlier race win to score a podium with maximum ballast aboard his Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher Ford.

"That’s brilliant for us," said Morgan. "We keep ticking away at the points in the championship and it’s just been an all-round good day for us so far. Thanks to the team and everyone at Mac Tools. Tom’s car was just on rails. I could see him coming in my mirrors and it was just a case of finding somewhere where he could come through and I’d not lose too much ground. I just let him go then I put my head down and came home in second. The front tyres were going off on Sam’s car with the ballast on board and I got him into the last corner with my nose up the inside there. A nice clean move and no contact."

"We’ll take that," responded Tordoff. "It was a good race for us. We were in a different race with weight on board to those without. They just caught me within a lap. That was me pushing and they caught me standing still. It was tricky. We can be proud of it. Races one and two have been perfect really. Race three with 57 kilograms and the hard tyre I’m not looking forward to. Tom (Chilton) raced the hard tyre in race two and dropped back so I need to go and pick his brains."

There was action aplenty up and down the field although by BTCC standards the fight for fourth, fifth and sixth was relatively low key. Team BMW's Ricky Collard claimed fourth ahead of Matt Simpson (Simpson Racing) and Jack Goff (WIX Racing with Eurotech), whilst Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat was next in the order.

Colin Turkington limited the points damage at the summit of the Drivers' standings with another eighth place finish, although his advantage to Ingram has been reduced to just 36 points. Incredibly, both will start today's final race side-by-side on the fourth row of the grid.

The Alfa of Rob Austin and Vauxhall of Senna Proctor completed the top ten order.

2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 26 – Silverstone

1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 22 laps
2 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport +6.412s
3 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team GardX Racing with Motorbase +7.921s
4 Ricky COLLARD (GBR) Team BMW +8.019s
5 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Simpson Racing +10.840s
6 Jack GOFF (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +11.883s
7 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +20.329s
8 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +12.391s
9 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) DUO Motorsport with HMS Racing +12.875s
10 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +13.096s
11 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Ciceley Motorsport +15.916s
12 Josh COOK (GBR) Power Maxed TAG Racing +16.577s
13 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +17.449s
14 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +17.719s
15 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +18.652s
16 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +18.726s
17 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +19.197s
18 Chris SMILEY (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +19.717s
19 Dan LLOYD (GBR) BTC Norlin Racing +20.353s
20 Ethan HAMMERTON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +22.123s
21 Brett SMITH (GBR) WIX Racing with Eurotech +22.431s
22 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) BMW Pirtek Racing +22.967s
23 Ollie PIDGLEY (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +23.377s
24 Mike BUSHELL (GBR) Trade Price Cars with Brisky Racing +23.519s
25 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +24.541s
26 Sam SMELT (GBR) AmD with Cobra Exhausts +25.602s
27 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Adrian Flux Subaru Racing +35.954s
28 James COLE (GBR) Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher +37.712s
29 Josh CAYGILL (GBR) AmD with AutoAid/RCIB Insurance Racing +4 laps
30 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +8 laps
31 Bobby THOMPSON (GBR) Team HARD with Trade Price Cars +19 laps

16th September 2018