BTCC: Ingram extends championship lead further with victory

The final race of the day would see Tom Ingram take victory and extend his championship lead even further over Ash Sutton.

Sutton would start on pole on hard compound of tyres ahead of Árón Taylor-Smith, Josh Cook and Daryl DeLeon while Ingram in fifth would be on the mediums.

As the race gets underway, Ingram got a lightning opening lap quickly passing DeLeon for fourth place on the exit of Redgate. Ingram would then go for another move on the exit of Coppice to pass Taylor-Smith into the chicane. Ingram continued his charge into the final hairpin getting a cutback against Cook to get the run on exit. But they both continue to fight down towards Redgate before a late braking maneuver for Cook allowed Ingram to go underneath the Toyota and take second place.

This allowed Taylor-Smith to get the run on Cook to take the final podium spot back. Cook tried to fight back through Coppice and down towards the chicane but Taylor-Smith would manage to keep the position.

The battle for the lead would heat up as Ingram would catch Sutton on the third lap. Ingram had a run on the exit of Coppice meaning both drivers would be side by side heading towards the chicane. Ingram would back out before using his more optimised run towards the Melbourne hairpin the pull alongside Sutton. He tried to make the move around the outside as Sutton pushes him hard to put two wheels on the grass and Ingram falls back behind before the final corner.

The two would continue to fight onto lap 4 as Sutton would defend throughout the opening complex before Ingram would get a run on the exit of McLeans which gave him the outside for Coppice. This put Sutton off-line throughout the corner while Ingram could use the slipstream into the chicane to once again put Sutton off-line. Ingram would get an excellent cutback to get to the inside of the Melbourne hairpin to temporarily get the lead before Sutton continued the fight into the final corner using the cutback to stay alongside onto the main straight.

Sutton uses his extra turbo boost over Ingram to get his nose back in front onto lap 5 before trying to narrow the corner for Ingram into Redgate, but the Hyundai would not be deterred as he keeps his nose in to the first turn to take the lead finally after an excellent battle.

While this battle went on, Dan Rowbottom managed to get passed Gordon Shedden for sixth place while Tom Chilton had made up six positions over the opening four laps. Chilton would make another place on Jake Hill for eighth place on lap 5 into Coppice as the Hyundai was making an excellent comeback through the field.

Chilton wouldn't wait long for another opportunity to take another position as he would try to pass Shedden for seventh place through Coppice. A few positions further up, Cook would have to defend from Rowbottom into the Melbourne hairpin but the Ford would manage to use the inside line to keep complete the move passed Cook on lap 6.

Lap 7 would see Shedden continuing to have to defend as Hill would manage to slide his way by the Toyota. Later in the lap, Rowbottom would now pass the lead Toyota of Taylor-Smith in the same way he passed Cook the lap prior to take the final podium spot. Chilton would continue his charge through the pack on lap 9 passing Cook for fifth place meaning he had made up ten places in eight laps in this race.

Soon a Safety Car would need to be deployed on lap 10 due to Nick Halstead retiring at Redgate due to an oil leak spinning him off the road. Under the Safety Car, Adam Morgan peeled into the pits due to an issue. He would manage to get back out on track on the lead lap fortunately.

The green flag would fly for the final four laps of the race as Hill would manage to pass DeLeon for sixth place before a mistake for DeLeon would also allow Shedden to get back passed for seventh. DeLeon would have more problems losing another two positions to Cook and Dan Lloyd.

Hill would challenge Chilton forcing him to defend on lap 15 into Coppice then using the cutback on exit to find his way into fifth. Chilton would not make it easy for the BMW though, putting Hill under immense pressure as Hill also looks to overtake Taylor-Smith for fourth. Hill would try the outside line on the Melbourne hairpin but the Toyota manages to defend as the BMW then tried once again into the final corner.

Taylor-Smith would keep the BMW behind heading onto the final lap but the pressure from the the rear wheel drive car behind would be immense. Hill would try again into Coppice and pass Taylor-Smith how he passed Chilton only a few laps prior. However, the Toyota manages to hold him off.

The checkered flag would fly as Ingram would take victory ahead of Sutton and Rowbottom as he takes the final podium spot. Taylor-Smith would finish fourth ahead of Hill and Chilton. Shedden would finish seventh as Lloyd takes eighth overall and the Independents victory once again. DeLeon and Rainford would round out the top ten finishers.

Ingram would lead the drivers standings by 32 points over Sutton. Cammish sits third in the standings ahead of Rowbottom and Hill who complete the top five.

The Independents drivers standings becomes very close as Mikey Doble leads the championship by 2 points over Lloyd who only sits one point ahead of teammate Chris Smiley. Dexter Patterson sits in fourth in the championship while Cook completes the top 5, but is no longer eligible to compete in the Independents Championship after One Motorsport pulled out.

The Jack Sears Trophy sees DeLeon sit on top of the standings by 14 points over Rainford. Sam Osborne is not too far behind in third in the standings while Patterson and Dorlin complete the top five.

The manufacturers standings has only a single point gap between Ford and Hyundai as the two go into the the final six races with everything to play for. The Teams Championship has Team Vertu sitting at the top of the table by two points over NAPA Racing UK as the Hyundai squad try to finally dethrone NAPA from their three championships in a row.