BTCC Silverstone: Ingram holds off Hill in wet opening race

Tom Ingram held off British Touring Car Championship title rival Jake Hill to take victory in a wet opening race of the day at Silverstone.

2022 champion Ingram led from pole to the finish in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback but had to fend off a concerted challenge from the Laser Tools-liveried West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport of Hill, who had started from fifth on the grid.

Hill immediately jumped the slow-starting Dan Cammish at the getaway, then rounded Josh Cook at Copse Corner to grab third place behind the sister WSR BMW of Colin Turkington, who is entertaining his own hopes of a fifth BTCC crown.

Turkington had no answer to the pace of Ingram, who was three and a half seconds in front by the seventh of 22 laps, and on lap eight he left the door wide open for Hill to cruise around the outside of him into the Brooklands left-hander.

Hill now began his charge, and with five laps remaining had brought the gap below a second. Two laps later he was right on Ingram’s rear bumper and tried to get past into Brooklands, the two cars inches from contact as the BMW’s rear wheels locked.

But Ingram had been canny with his hybrid allocation - with two laps remaining Hill had used all his up, and Ingram took the flag 0.641 seconds in front.

Hill, instead, had to defend a resurgent Cammish, who had dropped to seventh at the start in his Valvoline-liveried Alliance Racing Ford Focus ST before sweeping around the outside of Adam Morgan and Dan Rowbottom at Becketts for fifth.

Cammish then got into a fierce battle for fourth with the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport of Cook, before the sister Ford of Dan Rowbottom joined the party.

Cammish had been on the wrong side of a couple of moves and had dropped to sixth when Rowbottom nerfed Cook wide at Becketts, the former forced to retire the Focus due to the damage and Cook dropping to eighth.

Tom Ingram, Team Bristol Street Motors Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance (Photo by: JEP)

This freed up Cammish to go after Turkington, and he sailed around the outside of the BMW at Brooklands on the 10th lap to grab third.

One lap later, Ash Sutton, up from 14th on the grid, got his Alliance Ford past Turkington, and grabbed the fastest lap point away from Cammish as the top four threatened to concertina together.

But Sutton then fell away, and instead it was Cammish who tried an outside move at Brooklands on Hill on the final lap before settling for third.

The result means that Hill’s championship lead over Ingram has been cut to four points.

“I was mindful of the pace that Jake had,” said Ingram. “I had to save the hybrid to deploy it towards the end – I had to hold my nerve, keep my powder dry and not make any mistakes.

“I maybe took a little bit too much out of the tyres at the start, but I was happy to build a buffer – it was almost like the Goodwood Revival [where Ingram chased down Hill to snatch victory] with roles reversed!”

Turkington claimed a distant fifth, while Adam Morgan ran sixth for much of the race in the third of the WSR BMWs before he spun at Copse Corner under pressure from the recovering Cook.

That promoted Cook to sixth, before the Excelr8 Hyundai of Tom Chilton muscled the position away with two laps remaining, only to be penalised back behind the Toyota for this move after the race.

Sam Osborne took his Alliance Ford to eighth, with Andrew Watson (Speedworks Toyota) ninth and Dan Zelos putting in a terrific drive from the back of the grid to 10th on his second BTCC weekend in an Excelr8 Hyundai.

BTCC Silverstone Race 1 Results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	23'38.761		91.57
2	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			BMW 330e M Sport	22	+0.641 23'39.402	0.641	91.53
3	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+0.771 23'39.532	0.130	91.52
4	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+3.520 23'42.281	2.749	91.34
5	C. Turkington Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	22	+8.199 23'46.960	4.679	91.04
6	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+14.666 23'53.427	6.467	90.63
7	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+15.854 23'54.615	1.188	90.56
8	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	22	+23.412 24'02.173	7.558	90.08
9	A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+24.691 24'03.452	1.279	90.00
10	D. Zelos Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+24.857 24'03.618	0.166	89.99
11	A. Morgan Team BMW			BMW 330e M Sport	22	+26.802 24'05.563	1.945	89.87
12	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	22	+27.480 24'06.241	0.678	89.83
13	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Cupra León	22	+28.668 24'07.429	1.188	89.76
14	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	22	+32.903 24'11.664	4.235	89.50
15	S. Sumpton Restart Racing			Cupra León	22	+33.182 24'11.943	0.279	89.48
16	N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors			Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	22	+34.337 24'13.098	1.155	89.41
17	R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	21	+1 Lap 24'04.892	1 Lap	85.83
18	D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard			Cupra León	21	+1 Lap 24'25.217	20.325	84.64
dnf	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus ST	4	+18 Laps 4'36.922	17 Laps	85.30	Retirement
dnf	M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing			Vauxhall Astra	0				Retirement
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