Tom Ingram beat Ash Sutton to victory in the first race of the British Touring Car Championship round at Oulton Park.
But the result was only made concrete post-race after the officials looked into a pair of second-lap incidents between Ingram and Sutton, before deciding to take no further action.
Ingram got a decent getaway from pole position in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback, but front-row partner Ash Sutton’s Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST was instantly on the offensive.
On lap two, reigning and four-time champion Sutton tried a lunge down the inside of the Island hairpin, but there wasn’t enough room to squeeze through and contact put 2022 title winner Ingram into a slide.
Sutton now had the momentum on the inside line to the chicane, but Ingram attempted to turn in from the outside.
There was more contact, and Ingram elected to steer out of the chicane and cut the corners – as he controversially did last time out at Thruxton.
The two stayed close for half the race, before Ingram eked out a margin of over a second, eventually crossing the finish line 1.913 seconds in front.
