Tom Ingram doubles up to extend points lead in race two

Excelr8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram scored his third consecutive victory in the British Touring Car Championship by withstanding late-race pressure from MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill in race two at Brands Hatch.

At the start, Ingram had to withstand early pressure from Toyota’s Rory Butcher, who had a look around the outside of the Hyundai racer at Paddock Hill Bend.

But the race one winner was able to hold a half second advantage to give him enough margin to stave off any potential overtakes in the early stages.

Hill, meanwhile, kept pace with Butcher and on lap eight the BMW driver made his move for second at Druids, before setting about closing in on Ingram.

Just two laps later the lead gap was down to three tenths of a second, before Hill then closed in even further on the next lap.

But despite virtually rubbing the rear bumper of Ingram’s Hyundai through Dingle Dell, Hill couldn’t find a way past and Ingram was able to take a second win of the weekend by a margin of six tenths of a second, as Hill’s challenge faded in the final laps.

It means going into the final race of the season Ingram holds an 11-point advantage over Hill, whilst Ash Sutton is the only other driver still in the mix, now 14 points adrift after finishing in fifth.

Team BMW’s Colin Turkington is now formally out of contention, although consolation for the four-time champion came by completing the podium after he got by Sutton on the eighth lap and butcher five laps later.

Butcher was fourth, ahead of NAPA Racing UK’s Sutton in fifth, the latter having finished two seconds behind the Scot as he seemingly lacked the pace to press forward in the race.

Indeed, Ciceley Motorsport duo Adam Morgan and George Gamble put heavy pressure on Sutton in the closing laps, with Morgan taking the chequered flag in sixth.

Gamble had crossed the line in seventh, but a five-second penalty for a false start meant he was classified in 11^th.

That promoted BTC Racing’s Josh Cook to seventh, ahead of the second NAPA Ford of Dan Cammish, who had dropped two places on the opening lap, in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Team HARD’s Bobby Thompson and Excelr8 Motorsport’s Daniel Lloyd. Those two will start race three from the front row on the partially reversed grid, after Jason Plato randomly selected the top ten to be inverted for the finale.

Behind Gamble, Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat was 12^th, ahead of the leading Team Dynamics Honda of Daniel Rowbottom in 13^th, whilst Excelr8’s Tom Chilton and BMW’s Stephen Jelley completed the points, the latter having lost nine places on lap four in an incident unseen by the TV cameras.

The only retirements were the other three Team HARD CUPRAs of Carl Boardley, who failed to complete lap, Nicolas Hamilton after one lap and Árón Taylor-Smith on lap 12.

Race three is scheduled to get underway at 17:15 BST.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	23:02.565	1:30.875	1
2	24	M		Jake HILL	ROKiT MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	0.673	1:30.886	3
3	50	M		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	0.981	1:31.227	5
4	6	M		Rory BUTCHER	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	4.693	1:31.184	2
5	1	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	6.758	1:31.330	4
6	33	I		Adam MORGAN	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	6.908	1:31.327	6
7	66	I		Josh COOK	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	9.854	1:31.430	11
8	9	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	15	10.177	1:31.657	9
9	19	I		Bobby THOMPSON	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	15	11.301	1:31.669	7
10	123	M		Daniel LLOYD	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	11.786	1:31.490	13
11	42	I		George GAMBLE	Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	15	12.415	1:31.332	8
12	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	12.812	1:31.702	15
13	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	15	13.553	1:31.492	12
14	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	13.877	1:31.715	16
15	12	M		Stephen JELLEY	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	15	14.204	1:31.663	10
16	21	M		Ricky COLLARD	Toyota GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	15	14.988	1:31.812	14
17	97	I		Ash HAND	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	17.666	1:32.058	18
18	11	I		Jason PLATO	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	18.046	1:31.775	17
19	52	M		Gordon SHEDDEN	Halfords Racing with Cataclean	Honda Civic Type R	15	19.543	1:31.723	26
20	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	19.772	1:31.689	25
21	777	I		Michael CREES	CarStore Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	15	26.729	1:32.014	20
22	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	27.126	1:32.384	23
23	48	M		Ollie JACKSON	Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan	Ford Focus ST	15	27.786	1:32.405	24
24	96	M		Jack BUTEL	Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	15	28.916	1:32.566	19
25	99	I		Jade EDWARDS	Rich Energy BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type R	15	33.184	1:32.607	22
26	62	I		Rick PARFITT JR	Uptonsteel with Euro Car Parts Racing	Infiniti Q50	15	34.302	1:32.801	27
R	40	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	11	DNF	1:32.208	29
R	28	I		Nicolas HAMILTON	Yazoo with Safuu.com Racing	CUPRA Leon	1	DNF	1:46.535	21
R	41	I		CarL BOARDLEY	Autobrite Direct with JourneyHero	CUPRA Leon	0	DNF	N/A	28