Tom Ingram blitzes opposition to clinch pole position at Oulton Park

Tom Ingram trounced the opposition in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying at Oulton Park to clinch a first pole position of the season and with it, bettered his own lap record in the process.

The EXCELR8 Motorsport comfortably progressed through Q1 and Q2 and come the Quick Six, the former champion upped the ante by setting a best time of 1:23.856 – a little under half a second faster than he went last year.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley continued his front-running form from earlier in the day and equalled his best qualifying so far in the series by making it an all-Hyundai front row as he punched in the second fastest time.

Completing the top three – and maintaining his strong run of qualifying performances – was the lead Alliance Racing Ford of Dan Cammish. Joining him on the second row of the grid for race one is his team-mate and championship leader Ash Sutton.

Rounding out the top six was the lead Speedworks Motorsport Toyota of James Dorlin and the EXCELR8 Hyundai of Adam Morgan.

Filling the final spots inside the top ten was Tom Chilton, Josh Cook, Charles Rainford and Senna Proctor, who had to battle to put a time on the board after being pinged for exceeding track limits on multiple occasions.

Earlier in the session a number of headline names fell by the wayside during Q1 as reigning champion Jake Hill, Free Practice 1 pace-setter Dan Rowbottom and three-time title winner Gordon Shedden all failed to progress.

Daniel Lloyd had set a time quick enough to move up into Q2 but he subsequently failed the ride height technical check and dropped to the rear of the field.