BTCC: Ingram beats Hill to race two win to set up title showdown
EXCELR8 Motorsport's Tom Ingram has moved to within touching distance of securing his first ever British Touring Car Championship drivers' title after strengthening his lead to an 11-point advantage with victory in race two at Brands Hatch.
As was the case during race one, Ingram once again led every lap from pole position, but, this time, was forced to soak up severe pressure from fellow title contender Jake Hill during the final third of the race.
By in large, Ingram controlled the race at the head of the field, but that changed once WSR's Hill displaced Toyota's Rory Butcher for second position on lap 8 of the race.
Hill began to unleash a string of quick laps and rapidly caught the race leading Hyundai with a handful of laps to go. However, Ingram saved his arsenal for late in the race and used his hybrid deployment to perfect effect.
Although Hill managed to draw alongside Ingram on a couple of occasions, the Hyundai driver kept his BMW title rival at bay by deploying his hybrid during the optimum moments.
Ingram also set the fastest lap of the race, which gave the 29-year-old what could prove to be a vital extra point ahead of Hill in second.
Four-time champion Colin Turkington produced a determined drive to score his first podium finish since Snetterton, but it still wasn't enough to keep the Team BMW driver in championship contention for the final race of the season.
During the latter stages of the second race, Turkington was comfortably the fastest driver on the circuit after the 40-year-old dispatched Butcher for third position.
But the four-time champion ran out of laps after finishing within a second of the race win.
Butcher finished in a distant fourth, while defending champion Ash Sutton clung onto to fifth to remain within mathematical contention of retaining his drivers' title.
Sutton will go into the final race 14-points adrift of Ingram.
For the second race in succession, Adam Morgan finished in sixth ahead of BTC Racing's Josh Cook in seventh.
Dan Cammish, Bobby Thompson and Dan Lloyd completed the remainder of the top-ten in eighth, ninth and tenth.
By virtue of finishing in tenth, Ingram's EXCELR8 Motorsport team mate Lloyd will start the season finale from pole position after his tenth-place finishing position was selected by the retiring two-time champion Jason Plato in the reverse grid draw. That means Ingram will start the finale from tenth.
