BTCC Brands Hatch: Ingram back in the hunt with victory

Tom Ingram put in a terrific drive to take victory from third on the grid in the second race of the British Touring Car Championship finale at Brands Hatch.

The 2022 champion pulled off superb manoeuvres on the BMWs of Colin Turkington and Jake Hill over the first two laps, and is now just a point adrift of Hill heading into the final race of the season.

Ingram’s front-wheel-drive Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback had no chance against the front-row sitting, rear-wheel-drive West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sports at the start.

But he wasted no time in pulling off a peach of a move around the outside of Turkington at Hawthorn’s on the opening lap.

Half a lap later, Ingram dived down the inside of Hill at Paddock Hill Bend for the lead, but crucially Hill had gained a bonus point for leading a lap.

Ingram, of course, also got this because he led the remaining 14 laps, and he gained the fastest lap point into the bargain.

When Ingram did this, on lap five, his Hyundai was 1.954 seconds in front, but then the BMWs began eroding the advantage.

The leading runners were on medium tyres in this race, and the BMWs traditionally take longer to fire these up – especially in cool conditions with a hint of drizzle in the air.

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 N Fastback (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Hill took up the challenge and, using his sole lap of hybrid, got the gap down to 1.127s with five tours remaining, before Ingram stabilised the margin and took the flag 1.421s in front.

“Amazing – it’s on. It’s on!” exclaimed Ingram. “I’m super-pumped for that.

“This car is just so good, and I can’t say enough about what the team has done.

“The nice thing when you’re racing Colin and Jake is you know exactly what you’ve got. The move on Colin was major high risk, but needed doing. And then Jakey left just enough space down the inside at Paddock Hill.”

Behind the dutiful Turkington, clearly protecting Hill’s championship chances, there was a gap to the two leading Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus STs.

The sensational Sutton sliced his way from 19th on the grid to fifth in just four laps, and then set about the task of reeling in team-mate Dan Cammish.

With both drivers out of the title picture they were free to race, and on the 12th lap of 15 Sutton dived down the inside of Cammish at the Westfield right-hander. But he ran wide, and Cammish speared back ahead at Sheene Curve before preserving the position to the finish.

Another on a charge from the back was Josh Cook in his Speedworks Motorsport-run LKQ Toyota Corolla GR Sport. Cook eventually got up to seventh, but could not quickly crack the defences of sixth-placed Aron Taylor-Smith (Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra).

Aiden Moffat used the soft tyres in this race to charge his Speedworks LKQ Toyota up to eighth ahead of Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) and Sam Osborne (Alliance Ford).

BTCC Brands Hatch Race 2 Result

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	22'59.111		95.27
2	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	15	+1.421 23'00.532	1.421	95.17
3	C. Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	15	+1.763 23'00.874	0.342	95.15
4	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	15	+6.016 23'05.127	4.253	94.86
5	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	15	+7.708 23'06.819	1.692	94.74
6	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	15	+16.292 23'15.403	8.584	94.16
7	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+16.646 23'15.757	0.354	94.14
8	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+16.920 23'16.031	0.274	94.12
9	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+17.763 23'16.874	0.843	94.06
10	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	15	+19.285 23'18.396	1.522	93.96
11	A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+22.127 23'21.238	2.842	93.77
12	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Cupra León	15	+23.387 23'22.498	1.260	93.68
13	D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard			Cupra León	15	+24.409 23'23.520	1.022	93.62
14	D. Zelos Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+24.693 23'23.804	0.284	93.60
15	S. Sumpton Restart Racing			Cupra León	15	+27.912 23'27.023	3.219	93.38
16	R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	+27.930 23'27.041	0.018	93.38
17	N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+40.370 23'39.481	12.440	92.56
dnf	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	12	+3 Laps 18'41.731	3 Laps	93.71	Retirement
nc	M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	9	+6 Laps 23'45.617	3 Laps	55.30
dns	A. Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	0
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