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Silverstone BTCC: Tom Ingram jumps Jason Plato for victory

Tom Ingram denied Jason Plato victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone as a spin for Colin Turkington split the title race wide open

The superior set-up of the Toyota Corolla in low-grip conditions allowed Ingram to climb three places and win by an eventual 4.3-second margin over polesitter Plato.

Speedworks driver Ingram lined up only fourth on the grid, but his strong getaway propelled him into third at Tom Oliphant's expense into Copse.

Plato's launch was clean enough to preserve first place, while Matt Neal jumped the similar Honda Civic Type R of Chris Smiley for second.

Two-time champion Plato, making his first start from pole since Knockhill in 2017, led by more than 1s at the end of the opening lap.

But a robust move through Brooklands on Neal promoted Ingram to second, and despite running on the less favoured medium-compound prime tyre, he posted the fastest lap of the early part of the race.

He closed to within 0.2s of Plato and then used a tighter route through Luffield and a stronger exit to hold the inside line.

Despite door-banging with Plato, Ingram consolidated first into Copse and then was never headed on his run to the flag.

Points' leader Turkington had lined up sixth on the grid, some eight places higher than closest title rival and WSR team-mate Andrew Jordan.

But by lap sixth, Turkington had dropped to 11th before a climbing Jordan took track position.

As Turkington fell further back into the pack, he was caught in Rob Collard and Adam Morgan's battle, spinning on the run to the line.

He dropped as far as 25th, but did profit from late spinners to climb back into the points-paying positions with 14th.

Jordan meanwhile finished eighth on the road after a robust move on Chilton and a puncture for Ash Sutton.

But Jordan was then dealt a 6.6s penalty for the contact with the Motorbase Ford Focus RS, dropping him to 10th and back behind Chilton.

He now sits just six points shy of Turkington, with Cammish only five in arrears.

Cammish had lined up seventh but, like stablemate Neal, the Team Dynamics cars struggled in the damp and so Cammish fell to 11th.

With Neal's fall down the order, Smiley rounded out the podium ahead of team-mate Cook and the BMW 330i M Sport of Oliphant.

Neal was an eventual sixth ahead of Mike Bushell and Jordan, with Morgan and Chilton closing the top 10.

Result - 22 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Tom Ingram Speedworks Motorsport Toyota 21m40.695s
2 Jason Plato Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 4.312s
3 Chris Smiley BTC Racing Honda 7.554s
4 Josh Cook BTC Racing Honda 8.071s
5 Tom Oliphant WSR BMW 13.265s
6 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 14.028s
7 Mike Bushell AmD Tuning Honda 16.886s
8 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 23.676s
9 Tom Chilton Motorbase Performance Ford 23.926s
10 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 23.987s
11 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 24.064s
12 Rob Collard Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 24.119s
13 Matt Simpson Simpson Racing Honda 24.384s
14 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 25.716s
15 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning Honda 27.963s
16 Jake Hill Trade Price Cars Racing Audi 28.903s
17 Jack Goff Team Hard Volkswagen 29.617s
18 Ollie Jackson Motorbase Performance Ford 30.127s
19 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Infiniti 30.991s
20 Michael Caine Motorbase Performance Ford 31.217s
21 Sam Osborne Excelr8 Motorsport MG 34.709s
22 Rob Smith Excelr8 Motorsport MG 36.586s
23 Carl Boardley Team Hard Volkswagen 37.116s
24 Ash Sutton BMR Racing Subaru 1 Lap
25 Senna Proctor BMR Racing Subaru 1 Lap
26 Daniel Rowbottom Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 3 Laps
- Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen Accident damage
- Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW Accident damage
- Mark Blundell Trade Price Cars Racing Audi Accident damage
- Michael Crees Team Hard Volkswagen Battery

Championship standings

Pos Driver Points
1 Colin Turkington 270
2 Andrew Jordan 264
3 Dan Cammish 262
4 Josh Cook 251
5 Rory Butcher 228
6 Tom Ingram 215
7 Ash Sutton 184
8 Matt Neal 184
9 Jason Plato 182
10 Tom Chilton 163

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