Tom Ingram inherits pole position after trio excluded from qualifying

EXCELR8 Motorsport’s Tom Ingram will start the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone from pole position, after Power Maxed duo Árón Taylor-Smith and Mikey Doble, along with Dan Zelos, were disqualified from qualifying.

Taylor-Smith had initially set the fastest time in the rain-affected session, but later had his lap of 1:02.288 disallowed after his Vauxhall Astra failed the post-session ride-height check when the roller failed to go under the left-hand side of his car.

The same infraction also befell team-mate Doble’s car at the front, with Doble having initially put in a time good enough for third.

Power Maxed Racing lodged an appeal against Taylor-Smith’s exclusion, but the appeal was deemed to be inadmissible as it was lodged outside the time limit, a decision which has been acknowledged by the team.

EXCELR8’s Zelos had put in a career-best qualifying effort of sixth, but was also penalised for the same reason.

The penalties mean all three drivers move to the back of the grid for the opening race on Sunday, putting Taylor-Smith in 18^th, Doble in 19^th and Zelos in 20^th.

The changes promote Ingram to a tenth career BTCC pole, ahead of Team BMW’s Colin Turkington in second.

Speedworks Motorsport’s Josh Cook will start from third, whilst NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish moves up to fourth, having initially failed to progress beyond Q2.

Laser Tools Racing’s Jake Hill originally qualified in ninth, but will start race one from fifth, thanks to the trio of aforementioned penalties along with a grid penalty for Toyota’s Andrew Watson, who had received a three-place grid penalty at Donington Park for contact with Aiden Moffat.

Revised provisional aggregated qualifying result

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	80		Tom INGRAM	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	9	1:02.380	–
2	20		Colin TURKINGTON	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	9	1:02.494	0.114
3	66		Josh COOK	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:02.724	0.344
4	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	8	1:03.004	0.453
5	11		Andrew WATSON	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	7	1:03.052	0.501
6	24		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330e M Sport	7	1:03.115	0.564
7	33		Adam MORGAN	Team BMW	BMW 330e M Sport	7	1:03.148	0.597
8	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	7	1:03.229	0.678
9	12		Rob HUFF	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	7	1:03.263	0.712
10	3		Tom CHILTON	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	9	57.720	0.396
11	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	8	57.746	0.422
12	222		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	9	57.750	0.293
13	18		Daryl DELEON	Duckhams Racing with Bartercard	CUPRA Leon	9	57.820	0.496
14	1		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	9	57.897	0.440
15	29		Scott SUMPTON	Restart Racing	CUPRA Leon	9	57.996	0.539
16	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	58.026	0.569
17	22		Nick HALSTEAD	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	8	58.419	1.095
18	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	Disqualified	N/A
19	88		Mikey DOBLE	Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	–	Disqualified	N/A
20	45		Dan ZELOS	BRISTOL STREET MOTORS	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	–	Disqualified	N/A