Photo: BTCC

Tom Chilton leads home Tom Ingram in Donington Park opener

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Tom Chilton celebrated his second win of the British Touring Car Championship season at Donington Park after producing a sublime drive in race one to head team-mate and points leader Tom Ingram.

Starting the day’s opening contest from pole position, the EXCELR8 Motorsport driver was wheel-perfect as he controlled proceedings out front to comfortably cruise to the chequered flag.

Ingram had hit the front during the first half of the contest – clinching the all-important bonus point for leading the race – but the positions were reversed at the Melbourne Hairpin. From there, the 2022 title winner shadowed his team-mate to the finish, extending his points lead in the process.

Alliance Racing bounced back from a frustrating qualifying with Dan Rowbottom, Dan Cammish and Ash Sutton emerging as some of the big movers early on; the Ford Focus ST trio muscling their way past Daryl DeLeon and Senna Proctor early on.

Rowbottom quickly dispatch Cammish and then set off after the Restart Racing Hyundai of Chris Smiley. By mid-distance, Rowbottom found a way past and once third he enjoyed a relatively untroubled run to the finish.

Four-time champion Sutton was next to find a way past Smiley who continued to tumble down the order as he battled an ongoing engine issue. Both Sutton and Cammish would follow Rowbottom to complete the top five.

Reigning champion Jake Hill was another driver to watch as he put the disappointment of missing out on the Quick Six behind him to hustle his West Surrey Racing BMW up to sixth place. Hot on his heels to finish seventh was the feisty Adam Morgan.

Completing the top ten was Proctor, Smiley and the lead Speedworks Motorsport Toyota of Aron Taylor-Smith – who along with Gordon Shedden is running a TOCA engine in the Toyota Corolla GR Sport this weekend.

Heading into the weekend’s second race at Donington Park, Ingram now holds a 22-point lead over Sutton.

Race 2 around the Grand Prix layout of the East Midlands circuit is scheduled to begin at 14:15.