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Silverstone BTCC: Tom Ingram wins in red-flagged opener after crash

Tom Ingram won a truncated first British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone, which was cut short after a huge incident involving Rob Collard, Andrew Jordan and Will Burns

Speedworks Motorsport driver Ingram started the race from second on the grid but got the jump on polesitter Jack Goff on the run to Copse to take the lead.

Eurotech Honda Civic Type R driver Goff stayed with Ingram in the opening laps but fell away from the leader as a short shower intensified around the back end of the circuit.

Ingram had dropped Goff before the race was then neutralised at the two-third distance for a huge shunt involving WSR BMW drivers Jordan and Collard plus the Volkswagen CC of Burns.

As the midfield pack bunched on the run to Maggots, Aron Taylor-Smith tapped Collard after the MG driver appeared to have been hit himself.

While Collard attempted to correct a slide, he was forced onto the grass and, unable to stop, skated back onto the racing line on the exit of Becketts where he collected Burns and Jordan.

Collard, who retains a slim shot at the title, was visibly winded after the clash but did walk away from his car.

Team Hard boss Tony Gilham said Burns had been transported to the medical centre and was likely to be airlifted to hospital.

After a lengthy clear up period, the safety car returned to the pits at the end of lap 19 in preparation for a race restart but, as Ingram raced away off the final corner and across the start/finish line, a red flag was shown.

Officials decided not to restart the race, with Ingram declared the winner as a result.

Goff had avoided any attack from the Ciceley Racing Mercedes A-Class of Adam Morgan before the appearance of the safety car, with Goff matching his best result of the season and Morgan claiming a fourth podium of 2017.

The top three had pulled a clear gap back to the chasing pack during the green flag running, but Colin Turkington claimed a hard-earned fourth place to gain a couple of points back on rival Ash Sutton in the title fight.

Turkington started the race in eighth in his WSR BMW 125i M Sport but had jumped up to fourth as the rain began to fall.

The Northern Irishman struggled for a couple of laps thereafter, dropping behind the AmD Tuning Audi S3 of Ant Whorton-Eales and Dave Newsham (BTC Racing Chevrolet Cruze), but then came back past the pair to sit fourth before the safety car was called on lap 14.

Sutton, however, had bided his time in the pack and worked his way past the same pair to move into fifth before the field reached the safety car line.

Team BMR driver Sutton now has a 10-point lead over Turkington in the drivers' standings.

Whorton-Eales still claimed his best result in the BTCC with sixth, ahead of Newsham, a charging Aiden Moffat (Laser Tools Racing Mercedes A-Class) and the Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis of Rob Austin.

Mike Epps completed the top 10 in his Team Hard Volkswagen CC.

Race one result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 20m36.912s
2 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 0.728s
3 Adam Morgan Ciceley Racing Mercedes 1.754s
4 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 2.973s
5 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 3.775s
6 Ant Whorton-Eales AmD Tuning Audi 5.107s
7 Dave Newsham BTC Racing Chevrolet 6.525s
8 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 7.339s
9 Rob Austin Handy Motorsport Toyota 8.704s
10 Michael Epps Team Hard Volkswagen 9.588s
11 Gordon Shedden Dynamics/Honda Honda 11.240s
12 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 11.489s
13 Matt Neal Dynamics/Honda Honda 12.661s
14 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 13.292s
15 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 14.165s
16 Rob Huff Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 14.740s
17 James Cole Team BMR Subaru 15.572s
18 Chris Smiley BTC Racing Chevrolet 16.094s
19 Aron Taylor-Smith Triple Eight/MG MG 18.105s
20 Rory Butcher Motorbase Ford 19.495s
21 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 20.276s
22 Martin Depper Motorbase Ford 20.830s
23 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 22.239s
24 Mat Jackson Motorbase Ford 1 Lap
25 Matt Simpson Dynamics/Honda Honda 2 Laps
- Andrew Jordan WSR BMW Retirement
- Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing Ford Retirement
- Rob Collard WSR BMW Retirement
- Will Burns Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement
- Stewart Lines Maximum Motorsport Ford Retirement
- Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen Retirement
- Josh Cook Triple Eight/MG MG Disqualified


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