BTCC Brands Hatch: Tom Ingram wins finale for early points lead
Tom Ingram won the final British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch to move into the lead of the drivers' standings after the opening three rounds of the campaign
The Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis driver, who leapt from 11th on the grid to seventh on the opening lap, profited as cars ahead tripped over each other to make his way up to second place after only seven laps.
He overtook leader Rob Austin's HMS Racing Alfa Romeo as the pair began lap 13 and then powered clear to an untroubled victory.
Austin was forced into defensive mode in the latter part of the race as a charging Adam Morgan in the Ciceley Mercedes hunted him down. Morgan made his move with two laps to go and secured the runner-up spot.
Ingram, who is three points clear in the standings from race one winner Jack Goff (Eurotech Honda), said: "To come from 11th is an amazing feeling but it was all about the good work at the start.
"The car was so strong in that race with no weight in. That is going to be crucial for us for the rest of the season.
"I was able to get the power down coming out of Clearways no matter what line I used, and that was enough to get me ahead of Rob. There was pressure on me this weekend, but I feel like we have proved a point now."
Morgan said that the result belied his Mercedes' speed.
"We had pace all day, but things didn't play my way," he said. "The car was superb in that last race though and I was following Rob in the Alfa and I could see that his tyres were going off.
"He just left a chink going into Clearways. Second is a solid result for us."
Behind Austin, reigning champion Ash Sutton hauled his Team BMR Subaru Levorg to a fourth place finish with a late move on Team Hard's Mike Bushell.
Bushell had earlier been involved in an incident with AmDTuning.com Audi man Ollie Jackson going into Clearways.
Rory Butcher, in the AmDTuning.com MG, was sixth ahead of Matt Simpson and his team-mate Goff.
Colin Turkington powered his WSR BMW 125i M Sport from 27th on the grid to ninth, just in front of the Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook.
Race three result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Laps | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks | Toyota | 27 | 23m52.580s |
| 2 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 27 | 3.237s |
| 3 | Rob Austin | HMS Racing | Alfa Romeo | 27 | 4.202s |
| 4 | Ash Sutton | Team BMR | Subaru | 27 | 8.939s |
| 5 | Mike Bushell | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 27 | 10.376s |
| 6 | Rory Butcher | AmD Tuning | MG | 27 | 10.500s |
| 7 | Matt Simpson | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 27 | 10.992s |
| 8 | Jack Goff | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 27 | 11.913s |
| 9 | Colin Turkington | WSR | BMW | 27 | 12.068s |
| 10 | Josh Cook | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 27 | 12.503s |
| 11 | Dan Cammish | Team Dynamics | Honda | 27 | 12.894s |
| 12 | Matt Neal | Team Dynamics | Honda | 27 | 14.628s |
| 13 | Sam Tordoff | Motorbase | Ford | 27 | 15.033s |
| 14 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 27 | 15.127s |
| 15 | Senna Proctor | Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall | 27 | 15.634s |
| 16 | Chris Smiley | BTC Norlin | Honda | 27 | 17.254s |
| 17 | Andrew Jordan | WSR | BMW | 27 | 17.321s |
| 18 | Tom Boardman | AmD Tuning | MG | 27 | 20.438s |
| 19 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 27 | 21.777s |
| 20 | Tom Oliphant | Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes | 27 | 22.413s |
| 21 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 27 | 22.831s |
| 22 | Brett Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 27 | 26.435s |
| 23 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW | 27 | 26.775s |
| 24 | Michael Caine | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 27 | 26.953s |
| 25 | Sam Smelt | AmD Tuning | Audi | 27 | 28.041s |
| 26 | Bobby Thompson | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 27 | 28.288s |
| 27 | Tom Chilton | Motorbase | Ford | 25 | 2 Laps |
| 28 | Josh Price | Team BMR | Subaru | 25 | 2 Laps |
| 29 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Volkswagen | 24 | 3 Laps |
| - | James Nash | BTC Norlin | Honda | 7 | Retirement |
| - | James Cole | Motorbase | Ford | 1 | Retirement |
| - | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 1 | Retirement |
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