Tom Ingram holds off Ash Sutton to claim Race 1 victory

Tom Ingram held off Ash Sutton to claim a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Oulton Park.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport driver tallied his third win of the season in impressive fashion as led every lap of a captivating opener, while the Alliance Racing Ford’s of Sutton and Dam Cammish completed the podium.

Ingram and Sutton both made strong starts off the front row of the grid and it didn’t take them long to get stuck into each other, with Sutton making a move for the lead on lap two at the Island hairpin.

Contact was made between the pair on entry to the corner and then again as they went side-by-side on the run down to Hislops. Ingram would skate across the grass but retained the lead and from that point on he was able to steadily pull away from the chasing pack.

Sutton would comfortably follow the 2022 champion to the chequered flag for yet another podium, with Cammish snaring a brand-new lap record on his way to the third step of the podim.

Behind, Dan Rowbottom fended off a late challenge from Adam Morgan to net fourth while Jake Hill – who ran as high as fourth at one stage before a small mistake at the Island hairpin – completed the top six.

Tom Chilton was seventh, ahead of the first of those drivers that decided to run on the hard tyre, Aron Taylor-Smith. The Vauxhall driver held off the Toyota pairing of Josh Cook and Aiden Moffat.

Four-time champion Colin Turkington endured a torrid race as he failed to get going as the lights went out. He would be pushed off the grid by marshals before rejoining a lap down on the rest of the field.

Race two at Oulton Park is scheduled to get underway at 14:40.