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BTCC Thruxton: Hill tops practice from Ingram

The diminutive Kentishman was quick out of the blocks in the early-morning FP1 session to whisk his West Surrey Racing-run Laser Tools BMW 330e M Sport around the Hampshire speedbowl with a lap that for a long time stood half a second clear of the opposition.

After a late red flag, 2022 champion Tom Ingram got down to business, rasping his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback to a time that was 0.191 seconds adrift of Hill’s effort, with the rest over half a second behind.

The pace was generally quicker in the lunchtime FP2 – Hill’s earlier best may have proved impregnable, but virtually the whole of the rest of the field improved.

This session was headed by Ingram, who lapped 0.231s clear of the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST of Dan Rowbottom’s previous FP2-topping best.

Hill was down in sixth in this session, but was unworried.

“I feel pretty strong,” he told Autosport. “We were just running a race set-up there because we’re confident with our one-lap pace. We were just going through our process.

“The improvements made to the car over the winter have made a hell of a difference. It’s not perfect, but I’ve got a lot of confidence in it. I’m very happy and I hope we can keep this up in qualifying.”

Tom Ingram (Photo by: JEP)

Ingram also looks strong, and is carrying the car #100 this weekend in place of his usual #80 in deference to the centenary of title sponsor Bristol Street Motors.

The second session was also red-flagged during its second half, in order for marshals to reinstall the much-abused tyre stack in its original place in the second apex of the chicane.

Scarcely had running got back under way when the abuse of the stack began again in earnest, with Rowbottom biffing his way spectacularly to his time, third overall across free practice.

Just 0.010s adrift of Rowbottom, with a very late effort, was the sister Ford of four-time and reigning BTCC champion Ash Sutton, who had a grassy moment at the chicane in FP1.

Aron Taylor-Smith did a good job in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra to finish in the top four in both sessions, and fifth overall, ahead of the WSR BMW of Adam Morgan.

Andrew Watson was the best of the Speedworks Motorsport squadron of Toyota Corolla GR Sports in both sessions, the Northern Irishman ending up an overall seventh in his Toyota Gazoo Racing GB example, ahead of the second PMR Vauxhall of Mikey Doble.

Ninth, after an eventful morning, was the Alliance Ford of Dan Cammish. The Berkshire-domiciled Yorkshireman had an off-track excursion at Noble in FP1 and then, following a pitstop, a throttle problem stranded him in a vulnerable position, causing the red flag.

Cammish was then on a hot lap at the end of FP2 when he was badly baulked in the chicane by the oblivious Ingram, who was making his way merrily to the pitlane.

Colin Turkington, Team BMW (Photo by: JEP)

The top 10 was rounded out by the second of the Excelr8 Hyundais, in the hands of Tom Chilton.

The other main title contender, Colin Turkington, lost much of FP1 to a loose bonnet pin on his BMW, causing the WSR squad to make precautionary changes to all three of its cars before FP2.

With alternate positions from the FP2 order determining the groups for the first phase of qualifying, that puts Turkington in the second batch with Hill, while Ingram and Sutton will feature in the first.

BTCC Thruxton - Practice results

FP2

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors 100 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 16

1'15.436

  112.434
2 United Kingdom D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK 32 Ford Focus ST 16

+0.231

1'15.667

0.231 112.091
3 United Kingdom A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK 1 Ford Focus ST 16

+0.241

1'15.677

0.010 112.076
4 Ireland A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing 40 Vauxhall Astra 14

+0.289

1'15.725

0.048 112.005
5 United Kingdom A. Morgan Team BMW 33 BMW 330e M Sport 19

+0.375

1'15.811

0.086 111.878
6 United Kingdom J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 24 BMW 330e M Sport 17

+0.483

1'15.919

0.108 111.719
7 United Kingdom A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 11 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 17

+0.588

1'16.024

0.105 111.565
8
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
88 Vauxhall Astra 16

+0.733

1'16.169

0.145 111.352
9 United Kingdom D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK 27 Ford Focus ST 17

+0.737

1'16.173

0.004 111.347
10 United Kingdom T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors 3 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 16

+0.755

1'16.191

0.018 111.320
11 United Kingdom R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 12 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 18

+0.897

1'16.333

0.142 111.113
12 United Kingdom C. Turkington Team BMW 20 BMW 330e M Sport 16

+0.924

1'16.360

0.027 111.074
13 United Kingdom J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 66 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 12

+0.944

1'16.380

0.020 111.045
14 United Kingdom A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 16 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 17

+1.340

1'16.776

0.396 110.472
15
R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors
14 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 14

+1.466

1'16.902

0.126 110.291
16 United Kingdom S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK 77 Ford Focus ST 17

+1.657

1'17.093

0.191 110.018
17 United Kingdom C. Smiley Restart Racing 222 Cupra León 15

+1.822

1'17.258

0.165 109.783
18
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
18 Cupra León 16

+2.109

1'17.545

0.287 109.376
19
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
29 Cupra León 16

+2.810

1'18.246

0.701 108.397
20
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
22 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 19

+3.795

1'19.231

0.985 107.049

FP1

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 24 BMW 330e M Sport 15

1'15.341

  112.576
2 United Kingdom T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors 100 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 19

+0.191

1'15.532

0.191 112.291
3 Ireland A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing 40 Vauxhall Astra 17

+0.832

1'16.173

0.641 111.347
4 United Kingdom A. Morgan Team BMW 33 BMW 330e M Sport 16

+1.009

1'16.350

0.177 111.088
5 United Kingdom A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 11 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 17

+1.120

1'16.461

0.111 110.927
6 United Kingdom C. Turkington Team BMW 20 BMW 330e M Sport 14

+1.137

1'16.478

0.017 110.902
7 United Kingdom T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors 3 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 18

+1.156

1'16.497

0.019 110.875
8 United Kingdom A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK 1 Ford Focus ST 17

+1.176

1'16.517

0.020 110.846
9 United Kingdom D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK 32 Ford Focus ST 15

+1.265

1'16.606

0.089 110.717
10 United Kingdom D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK 27 Ford Focus ST 13

+1.437

1'16.778

0.172 110.469
11
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
88 Vauxhall Astra 17

+1.808

1'17.149

0.371 109.938
12
R. Pearson Team Bristol Street Motors
14 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 17

+1.918

1'17.259

0.110 109.781
13 United Kingdom J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 66 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 14

+2.010

1'17.351

0.092 109.651
14 United Kingdom R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 12 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 17

+2.023

1'17.364

0.013 109.632
15 United Kingdom A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 16 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 16

+2.108

1'17.449

0.085 109.512
16 United Kingdom C. Smiley Restart Racing 222 Cupra León 17

+2.197

1'17.538

0.089 109.386
17 United Kingdom S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK 77 Ford Focus ST 14

+2.547

1'17.888

0.350 108.895
18
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
18 Cupra León 17

+3.316

1'18.657

0.769 107.830
19
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
29 Cupra León 15

+3.705

1'19.046

0.389 107.300
20
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
22 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 18

+4.221

1'19.562

0.516 106.604
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