BTCC Donington Park: Ingram turns the tables on Sutton in race two

Ingram worked his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N ahead of the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus ST of Sutton on the fourth lap of 14, and stayed in front until the end of the race.

Sutton appeared to make a decent getaway, with front-row partner Jake Hill unable to get his rear-wheel-drive, West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport ahead of the Ford.

Ingram got alongside Hill down the Craner Curves, and was able to make his way up into second place by claiming the inside line for the Old Hairpin.

Usually, Sutton would accelerate away from the pack, but on this occasion Ingram wasted no time in latching onto his rear bumper.

The move for the lead started on the inside of Redgate, and the duo ran side by side on the Craners before Ingram went in front at the Old Hairpin.

Sutton attempted to fight back at McLeans, but the Hyundai driver shut the door.

Even after this Sutton refused to give up, and the closeness of the action up front allowed the BMWs of Hill and Colin Turkington to catch up and make it a four-car train at the front.

Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

But this changed on the ninth lap – Ingram set the fastest lap and suddenly pulled out a 1.953s advantage, and Sutton, now suffering from a long brake pedal, had Hill swarming all over him.

While Ingram went on to win by 2.831s, Sutton had to use all his nous to keep Hill behind.

Hill was peeved with Sutton’s strong defence, while the championship leader said: “The [brake] pedal kept hitting the deck and I remember Dan’s incident [after team-mate Cammish’s free practice shunt].

“I’ve never suffered brake fade like that before. The poor old engine had a hard time helping me slow down.”

Ingram was delighted with a genuine race victory.

“We were quick in the dry yesterday, and qualifying didn’t give us a true reflection of our pace, because this fat, squidgy thing in the cockpit messed it up,” he said.

“The car felt alive, absolutely alive – I said over the radio that this is how I remember it. We’ve lacked some pace this year, but this time it was outrageous. It’s nice to have the old chariot back.”

Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW 330e M Sport (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

Behind fourth-placed Turkington, Josh Cook had a lonely run to fifth spot in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R, with Ricky Collard (Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla) and Dan Rowbottom (Motorbase Ford) next up.

A ferocious paint-swapping battle for eighth, between two chaps who are the mildest mannered out of the cockpit, ended up in favour of Speedworks Toyota man Rory Butcher from WSR BMW racer Adam Morgan, with Aron Taylor-Smith completing the top 10 in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.

Tom Chilton was 11th in his Excelr8 Hyundai, while 12th-placed Dan Lloyd was drawn on reversed-grid pole in his Team Hard Cupra Leon.

BTCC Donington Park race two results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

       

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	T. Ingram Tom Ingram BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	22'10.551				20
2	A. Sutton Ashley Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	2.831				17
3	J. Hill Jake Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	14	3.045	0.214			15
4	C. Turkington Colin Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	3.638	0.593			13
5	J. Cook Josh Cook One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	14	8.016	4.378			11
6	R. Collard Ricky Collard Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	11.577	3.561			10
7	D. Rowbottom Daniel Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	12.157	0.580			9
8	R. Butcher Rory Butcher Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	19.757	7.600			8
9	A. Morgan Adam Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	20.487	0.730			7
10	A. Taylor-Smith Aron Taylor-Smith CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	21.273	0.786			6
11	T. Chilton Tom Chilton BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	22.123	0.850			5
12	D. Lloyd Daniel Lloyd Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils			Cupra León	14	23.196	1.073			4
13	S. Jelley Stephen Jelley Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	14	23.544	0.348			3
14	R. Pearson Ronan Pearson BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	24.300	0.756			2
15	S. Osborne Sam Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	14	25.684	1.384			1
16	A. Watson Andrew Watson CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	26.896	1.212
17	D. Patterson Dexter Patterson Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	14	30.621	3.725
18	M. Doble Mikey Doble CarStore Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	14	35.577	4.956
19	M. Crees Michael Crees BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Cupra León	14	37.980	2.403
20	N. Halstead Nick Halstead BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8			Hyundai i30N	14	42.545	4.565
21	G. Gamble George Gamble Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	1 lap
22	J. Edwards Jade Edwards Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	13	1 lap
23	A. Moffat Aiden Moffat One Motorsport with Starline Racing			Honda Civic Type R	9	5 laps
24	D. De Daryl De Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD.			Cupra León	8	6 laps
25	J. Butel Jack Butel Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown			Cupra León	0
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