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Tom Ingram wins Silverstone opener as title race twists again

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Tom Ingram secured his third win of the season in the opening race of the weekend at Silverstone as the race for the 2019 BTCC title took another twist.

The Speedworks driver qualified on the second row of the grid but made a strong start in his Toyota Corolla to jump into second spot – aided by the front-row starting Honda of Chris Smiley being slow away off the line.

Ingram then set about trying to find away ahead of the Vauxhall of Jason Plato as the pair broke away from the pack behind, with the outgoing Independents’ champion able to make a move for the lead as the pair crossed the line to start the fifth lap.

Rubbing doors on the run to Copse, Ingram was able to get ahead of Plato going into the right-hander and was able to then ease away over the remaining laps to secure victory.

Plato was left to settle for second, with third going the way of Smiley after the BTC Racing man battled back from his tardy getaway to secure a place on the podium finish, just ahead of team-mate Josh Cook.

Fourth for Cook however has seen him come right back into title contention after he outscored the three drivers who had gone into the race ahead of him – having managed to keep Ash Sutton at bay before a puncture dropped the Subaru driver out of contention.

Championship leader Colin Turkington had looked set to extend his advantage over Andrew Jordan and Dan Cammish in the early stages of the race but a clash with Adam Morgan and Rob Collard exiting the final corner on lap eight saw his BMW spin and dropped him down outside the top 20.

From there, the West Surrey Racing man was forced to battle back through the middle of a frenetic midfield fight to cross the line and salvage two championship points.

That allowed the defending champion to retain a four point lead in the standings, with Jordan only able to work his way up to eighth place by the finish behind Tom Oliphant, Matt Neal and Mike Bushell, with Adam Morgan and Tom Chilton rounding out the top ten.

Cammish meanwhile crossed the line in eleventh having edged ahead of Collard’s Vauxhall on the run to the flag – gaining him an extra point to sit eight points off the lead.

With 111 points still to play for, ten drivers remain in mathematical contention for the title with Sam Tordoff, Morgan and Oliphant now out of the equation.

Race two is scheduled for 14.35 local time.