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Tom Ingram goes even faster at Croft ahead of qualifying

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Tom Ingram obliterated the existing British Touring Car Championship qualifying lap record even further in second practice, with the 2022 title winner once again leading an EXCLER8 Motorsport one-two. 

After topping the times earlier this morning, the Hyundai driver went even quicker around the North Yorkshire circuit as he set a best lap of 1:20.361 – almost a full second faster than the all-time benchmark time.

Senna Proctor finished hot on the heels of his team-mate for a second successive session whilst the Speedworks Motorsport’s Aron Taylor-Smith underlined the pace of the Toyota Corolla GR Sport by finishing third.

Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley set the exact same time as Taylor-Smith however due to setting it later in the session, he was classified in fourth – narrowly ahead of three-time champion Gordon Shedden. 

Tom Chilton was sixth although he failed to complete the session after suffering a crash at Clervaux, which in-turn brought out the red flag. A second stoppage also came later on when James Dorlin’s Toyota needed to be recovered following an off.

Dan Rowbottom was the lead Alliance Racing Ford Focus in seventh and just 0.003 of a second behind him was his team-mate, and current championship leader, Ash Sutton. 

Completing the top ten was Daniel Lloyd and Aiden Moffat, who was the highest-placed West Surrey Racing BMW.

The session also saw a surprise return for four-time champion Colin Turkington as he substituted for reigning champion Jake Hill, who was suffering from illness.

Turkington completed a number of laps in Hill’s rear-wheel-drive machine before the latter returned to the driving seat to hit the track for the closing stages. 

Qualifying at Croft is scheduled to begin later this afternoon at 15:30.