Outgoing British Touring Car Championship title holder Tom Ingram pepped up his charge for 2026 series runner-up with victory in a wet Silverstone finale.
Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback had been drawn on the reversed-grid front row and had the full complement of 14 laps of TOCA Turbo Boost, so he was always a favourite for honours. But the deterioration in weather conditions suddenly factored in Ash Sutton, winner of a fifth BTCC title earlier in the day, despite his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium’s starting position of ninth and just four laps of TTB.
The task for Ingram looked harder at the start, when poleman Aiden Moffat and Aron Taylor-Smith beat him away from the start and Dan Rowbottom then demoted him at Becketts.
Ingram’s fightback began on the second lap. Rowbottom’s CPRL Mercedes A35 Saloon had demoted Taylor-Smith’s Speedworks Motorsport-run at Luffield for the lead on the opening tour, and next time around Moffat’s Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon dived inside the Irishman for second at Brooklands. Ingram then went around the outside of Taylor-Smith at Luffield to move up to third.
Rowbottom led the first five laps, before Moffat repassed him at Brooklands. Ingram was next to pass the Mercedes, the duo running side by side for three corners before the Hyundai swept around the outside at the high-speed Copse Corner.
Photo by: JEP
At half-distance, Ingram repeated that move beautifully to wrest the lead from Moffat to take an advantage he never lost.
Sutton was following Ingram up the order, and soon he also passed Moffat. But he was having to save his TTB and, by the time he was on parity with Ingram, the gap was out to around five seconds with just three laps remaining.
Gordon Shedden was another on a charge, passing team-mate Taylor-Smith and then moving onto the tail of Moffat. But Shedden’s bid at Becketts with six laps remaining sent the Toyota wide. The Scottish veteran clambered back onto the circuit and quickly repassed Taylor-Smith, but could not quite catch Moffat by the finish.
As Taylor-Smith fell down the order to eighth, Dan Cammish rose to fifth in his Alliance Ford, while Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) just held off Josh Cook (Speedworks Toyota) for sixth. Completing the top 10 were the CPRL Mercs of Rowbottom and Adam Morgan, who faded as the race wore on.
BTCC Silverstone – Race 3 results
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here