Tom Ingram cruises to race one victory at Croft

Tom Ingram claimed a comfortable victory in the opening British Touring Car Championship race of the weekend at Croft, with Dan Cammish and Senna Proctor completing the podium.

Kicking off the second half of the season in greasy conditions, Ingram converted pole position into a flawless victory around the Yorkshire circuit and in-doing so, he moved himself to the top of the standings.

Both Ingram and Cammish made good starts when the lights went out but it was the Hyundai driver that was able to hold firm, with the pair running line astern through the opening sequence of corners.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble had started third but he found himself on roughed up towards the end of the opening lap which resulted him tumbling down to seventh. A few corners later the Vauxhall driver dropped a wheel on the grass and spun exiting the chicane.

Home hero Proctor emerged as the driver to watch during the opening exchanges as he surged from eighth on the grid to take third by end of the first lap. That would be where he finished too as he enjoyed a relatively trouble-free drive to the chequered flag to claim his first podium of the year.

At the front, Ingram and Cammish were split by a handful of seconds however things would close up in the latter stages as the safety car was called following an incident between Gordon Shedden and Chris Smiley, the latter ending up in the gravel.

As racing resumed, Alliance Racing’s Sutton – who had progressed up to sixth having started 11th – dived for the pit lane with a puncture, swinging the title pendulum firmly towards Ingram who cruised to a third win of the season in the closing laps.

Cammish and Proctor shadowed the new championship leader home whilst Dan Rowbottom and Tom Chilton completed the top five.

Daryl Deleon enjoyed a strong drive to move his West Surrey Racing BMW up to sixth with Aron Taylor-Smith piloting his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla to seventh. Rounding out the top ten was the scrapping Charles Rainford, Daniel Lloyd and Adam Morgan.

Sutton would ultimately return to the circuit in 20th, albeit a lap down.

Race two is scheduled to begin at 14:30.