Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Marcus Simmons

BTCC Snetterton: Ingram hangs on for first win of 2023

Ingram had the medium tyre fitted on his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, and started from seventh on the grid.

He made short work of the five hard-shod cars in front of him to move up to second on lap two, and set off after the leading Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST of Dan Rowbottom.

Rowbottom was also on mediums, and passed polesitter Stephen Jelley’s West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport on the second lap at Williams, with Ingram following him past on the back straight.

Ingram was soon on the back of Rowbottom, and on the fifth lap the leading Ford defended into Riches, only to run wide and allow Ingram to slip through into the lead.

Rory Butcher, who was the leading starter on soft tyres from eighth on the grid, also got past Rowbottom into the Esses.

The Scot’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla was now 1.306 seconds behind Ingram, and despite the apparent tyre advantage he could not erode the deficit.

Instead, Cammish became a looming threat in his Motorbase Ford.

Cammish got up to third on lap seven of 11 when Rowbottom ran wide at Oggies, and on the ninth lap he got past Butcher into second place at Riches.

With two laps remaining, Cammish, who had set fastest lap in his climb from 11th on the grid, was 1.558s adrift of Ingram.

The gap was down to 0.910s with a lap to go, and by halfway round the final lap Cammish was right with the leading Hyundai.

Ingram, who has been struggling all weekend with illness, hung on for victory by 0.587s from Cammish.

Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

But Cammish’s Ford failed the ride height test after the race for reasons which at present the Motorbase team is unable to explain, elevating Butcher to second and Rowbottom to third.

New championship leader Ash Sutton had another remarkable race to take fourth place in the final results with the unfancied hard tyre on his Motorbase Ford.

Josh Cook started from the rear with softs on his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R, but sliced through the field and passed the warring WSR BMWs – all struggling on hards – in the late stages to take what became fifth place.

Jelley hung on as the best of the WSR BMWs to claim sixth spot, while a penultimate-lap clash at the Wilson hairpin between the sister machines of Jake Hill and Adam Morgan promoted the squad’s Colin Turkington to seventh.

Aiden Moffat also slipped past to take eighth in his BTC Honda ahead of Morgan and Hill.

BTCC Snetterton - Race 3 results (11 laps)

 Cla   Driver   Car / Engine  Gap
1 Tom Ingram Hyundai  
2 Dan Cammish Ford 0.587*
3 Rory Butcher Toyota 5.594
4 Dan Rowbottom Ford 6.869
5 Ash Sutton Ford 9.428
6 Josh Cook Honda 15.122
7 Stephen Jelley BMW 16.241
8 Colin Turkington BMW 16.349
9 Aiden Moffat Honda 16.993
10 Adam Morgan BMW 17.832
11 Jake Hill BMW 18.096
12 Tom Chilton Hyundai 18.976
13 Bobby Thompson Cupra/TOCA 19.364
14 Dexter Patterson Cupra/TOCA 19.665
15 Ricky Collard Toyota 26.688
16 Mikey Doble Vauxhall/TOCA 29.578
17 Jack Butel Cupra/TOCA 30.287
18 Dan Lloyd Cupra/TOCA 30.601
19 Andrew Watson Vauxhall/TOCA 32.242
20 Will Powell Honda 33.785
21 Sam Osborne Ford 44.431
22 Nick Halstead Hyundai 1'05.177
 
(21) Nicolas Hamilton Cupra/TOCA Retirement
(18) Ronan Pearson Hyundai Retirement
(12) Árón T.-Smith Vauxhall/TOCA Retirement
  George Gamble Toyota Retirement

*Disqualified after car failed post-race ride height checks

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.