Tom Ingram won a thrilling final race of the day in the British Touring Car Championship round at Silverstone after a 25-minute red flag for torrential rain.
Ingram’s defeat of Ash Sutton after last-corner contact at Luffield means he goes to the final round at Brands Hatch level on points with Jake Hill, who was classified fifth after receiving a penalty.
The race looked set to be abandoned after eight laps amid worsening conditions and be declared null and void.
Ingram had taken the lead at the start from third on the reversed grid, his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback sweeping majestically around the outside of poleman Chris Smiley and front-row starter Dan Cammish at Copse Corner.
On the fourth lap, Colin Turkington, who had already twice lost time by running wide twice at Copse, appeared to be caught out by West Surrey Racing BMW team-mate Adam Morgan getting sideways under braking for Becketts, and he revolved into the gravel trap.
Out came the safety car, and while this was circulating conditions worsened to the extent that the race was red-flagged on the ninth lap.
The field was held for 25 minutes in the pitlane before restarting behind the safety car, ostensibly to get to the 50% distance at which half-points could be awarded.
But by the time this happened, the rain had stopped and after four laps behind the safety car, the green flags waved with 13 laps of racing still to come.
Sutton had stormed from 12th on the grid to third in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST before the stoppage, and at the restart he surged past second-placed Josh Cook’s Speedworks-run Toyota Corolla GR Sport on the exit of Copse by using his hybrid.
Sutton then closed in on Ingram, and the two traded fastest laps as they circulated together, the bonus point eventually going to the Hyundai man.
It all seemed over with three laps remaining when Ingram pulled out a 1.3-second gap, but Sutton came back at him. At Luffield on the final lap, Sutton’s tighter line brought him into play with Ingram’s wider arc on the exit.
The two made contact, and Sutton appeared to back off to allow Ingram to stay ahead and prevent himself getting a penalty.
“I knew that Ash was going to come too fast – that was a given,” said Ingram.
“It was a case of managing risks and I couldn’t afford to make a mistake, but at the same time I had to push on – I couldn’t just drive around.
“Ash made a couple of mistakes and that kind of saved my bacon I think.”
Cook ran a lonely third, while Hill finished fourth in his West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport after passing Rob Huff’s Speedworks Toyota at Luffield, although the former World Touring Car champion was run out of room at the exit and Hill was reprimanded for the move.
Huff, who had charged into contention from 11th on the grid, was then nerfed sideways at Copse in a battle with the sensational Dan Zelos, who got up to fifth on his second weekend in the BTCC in an Excelr8 Hyundai before being repassed by Dan Cammish (Alliance Ford) on the penultimate lap.
Cammish led for a few yards on the first lap when he repassed Ingram into Becketts, but his engine cut as he hit the brakes and he sailed wide – it then refired when he hit the gravel and he set about recovering as best he could.
Part of that entailed a battle with Hill, during which contact at Luffield resulted in Hill’s demotion behind Cammish in the results to fifth.
Morgan was seventh from Huff, but both moved up a place ahead of Zelos when the BTCC newcomer received a penalty for his Copse move on the Toyota.
