BTCC: Ingram takes victory in opening race of Croft weekend to claim championship lead

Tom Ingram converted pole to victory in the opening race of the Croft weekend to take another race victory on the season to take the championship lead from Ash Sutton.

Ingram started on pole ahead of Dan Cammish and Mikey Doble as the three look to take victory while Sutton was struggling in the middle of the pack.

The race got underway and both Ingram and Cammish got a solid start to maintain positions ahead of Doble. Senna Proctor would make a move on the opening lap to pass Daniel Rowbottom as the Hyundai driver begins to put pressure the front runners before Doble had a moment to lose 3 places to drop to 6th place. This means Proctor on the opening lap makes up 5 positions.

Tom Chilton went to make an attack in Rowbottom putting pressure on the Ford across the opening phases but the NAPA manages to keep himself together. Soon after Mikey Doble goes spinning on the exit of the first chicane as he taps the barrier but managed to carry on but had dropped to the back of the grid.

Ingram and Cammish opened themselves a decently sized margin over the field in the opening couple of laps as they push the limits to make up for their reduced hybrid in comparison to Proctor. Sutton, on the hard tyre, had made up 4 places in the opening few laps to 7th place in an excellent job despite the deficit in tyre pace. Meanwhile, Charles Rainford made a bold move on lap 5 to make the move on Árón Taylor-Smith for 8th place as the BMW, which had a fair bit of dirt from early incidents, would take the opportunity to use the clean air to pull a gap.

Dan Lloyd would then make a move on Adam Morgan to find his way into 10th place on lap 7 as the hard tyre running Morgan would have to do more defending against Chris Smiley and Gordon Shedden. Shedden would be putting more pressure on Smiley throughout lap 8 as the Toyota tried to pass the Hyundai. Further up the field, Sutton would make a surprise divebomb at the final corner on Daryl DeLeon meaning the Ford moved up to 6th.

The battle between Smiley and Shedden would continue as the pair fought throughout side by side in the second half of lap 9 before a collision at turn 1 due to Smiley clipping the curb sending Smiley spinning and into the gravel. The Safety Car is deployed and the field is bundled back up for the restart. Before the race could restart, Sutton would end up with a puncture that would throw him out of the points and a lap down after pitting to change it. The race would resume with Ingram and Cammish continuing to lead the way ahead of Proctor and Rowbottom as Rowbottom would sit right up behind Proctor to try and force the Hyundai into a mistake.

Ingram would come home to take victory and the championship lead at the opening race at Croft. Cammish and Proctor would take the podium places ahead of Rowbottom and Chilton who completed the top 5. DeLeon would take 6th ahead of Taylor-Smith and Rainford while Lloyd and Morgan complete the top 10.