Tom Ingram wins BTCC opener at Brands Hatch

Tom Ingram lived up to his pre-season promise with victory in the opening BTCC race of the weekend at Brands Hatch.

The Speedworks driver had qualified on the front row of the grid but made light work of getting into first spot at the start and was then able to control proceedings to secure what was ultimately a comfortable third career win.

The race had started in dramatic fashion when the lights went out, with Colin Turkington attempting to slip between the two Dynamics-run Hondas off the line only to be tagged by Matt Neal – putting both out on the spot and leading to the Safety Car being deployed.

By that point, Ingram had already jumped ahead of pole man Jeff Smith and when the race resumed on lap five, he simply pulled away from the Eurotech Honda behind.

Smith would do his best to maintain position but lacked the pace to keep his rivals at bay, with Gordon Shedden and Adam Morgan both slipping through within a lap of the restart and a train of cars then building before Smith’s race came to an end with a mechanical issue forcing him into the pits to retire.

Whilst Ingram controlled things at the front, Shedden and Morgan also pulled away from the chasing pack and would find themselves in close quarters for the final lap, with the defending champion forced to defend hard to keep a charging Morgan at bay on the run to the line.

Nearly ten seconds further back, Jack Goff at least gave Eurotech some reason to smile as he battled his way up to fourth place; a forceful move on Rob Austin on lap 19 ultimately proving to be key.

Austin had to settle for fifth spot, with Andrew Jordan the top BMW driver in sixth. That was despite the best efforts of Rob Collard, who put in a customary charge through the pack from 15th on the grid to finish seventh.

Mat Jackson – the top drive on the soft tyre – took eighth, with Michael Epps and the returning Tom Chilton rounding out the top ten.

After a tough day on Saturday, Jason Plato was able to bring home some points for Subaru with a twelfth place finish, but there was further disappointment for Dave Newsham.

Following his off in qualifying, the BTC Norlin man was forced out on lap twelve after losing a wheel on his Chevrolet Cruze.