Tom Ingram has inherited a surprise win from race one at Silverstone as the works MG duo of Ashley Sutton and Josh Cook, who finished in a 1-2 on track were disqualified for a rear wing infringement.
Ingram actually took the lead from Sutton on the opening lap with Sutton’s team mate Cook dropping to fourth by Andrew Jordan’s Focus.
More early battles came from Adam Morgan’s Wix Racing Mercedes and the Handy Motorsport Toyota. Much lower down the order, Tordoff, Collard and Jackson were all fighting for places despite none of them being in points scoring positions at that point.
On lap four Cook and Jordan collided at the complex and this let Cook back through into third and he soon joined the battle between the top two.
By Lap eight, Sutton had found a way past Ingram which now left him under attack from Cook. With Sutton controlling the pace, there was no where for Ingram to go to avoid Cook’s pressure and by lap twelve it was now an MG one-two. They maintained this to the flag and celebrated on the podium before it was announced that their rear wing settings were outside of the allowed tolerance and therefore both MG’s were disqualified from the race. MG have since appealed but this won’t be heard until after the event meaning both cars have to start race two from the back.
Before the ruling, Sutton had been pleased with his race
“We worked hard for this one,” said Sutton. “To top race one I’m absolutely over the moon. Tom [Ingram] got a great start and broke out a bit of a gap. ‘I’ll settle for the minute,’ I thought.
Then I saw an opportunity, a car width gap beside Tom, big enough for my MG. There was a little bit of contact but nothing unfair. Down to turn one we were side by side but I came out on top. We’ve got to continue the momentum.”
Tom Ingram had been relatively pleased with his podium before it became a win;
“We had it under control but I knew the MG boys would be coming for us,” claimed Ingram. “I wasn’t quite able to hold off the attack. The move was there for Ash [Sutton]. It was a strong move and he saw the opportunity and took it. It was robust by Josh (Cook) too. He’ll see it his way and I’ll see it mine. We’ll both disagree on it. I’ve probably got a really mardy face on but I am really pleased with being back on our pace and back at the sharp end. I’m over the moon really.”
Jordan ended up fourth, ahead of the chasing pack but just too far back from the top three to make an impact. This was of course second after the post race ruling. Austin and Morgan battled for most of the race but eventually finished in that order in fifth and sixth which later became third and fourth.
Jake Hill had one of his best races holding off both Honda’s to finish in seventh which of course then became fifth. Hill was helped by both Hondas suffering punctures which dropped them down the order.
Aron Smith had a strong race taking what was eventually sixth ahead of Rob Collard, jumping to seventh from what had been twenty fifth on the grid, a gain of eighteen places.
Colin Turkington had a nearly as impressive run from fifteenth to eighth for Silverline Subaru BMR Racing.
Tordoff managed to make it to eleventh and some points to keep his lead going into the day’s second race. Neal and Shedden retain second and third despite their tyre issues in this race.
2016 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – Round 25 – Silverstone:
1 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport 21m49.891s (99.18 mph)
2 Andrew JORDAN (GBR) Motorbase Performance +3.478s
3 Rob AUSTIN (GBR) Handy Motorsport +7.464s
4 Adam MORGAN (GBR) WIX Racing +10.121s
5 Jake HILL (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +16.570s
6 Aron SMITH (IRL) BKR +18.131s
7 Robert COLLARD (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +18.307s
8 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +18.431s
9 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +18.554s
10 Jason PLATO (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +18.785s
11 Sam TORDOFF (GBR) Team JCT600 Racing with GardX +19.928s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team IHG Rewards Club +20.135s
13 Hunter ABBOTT (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +20.139s
14 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) AmD Tuning.com +22.960s
15 Jeff SMITH (GBR) Eurotech Racing +23.520s
16 Mark HOWARD (GBR) BKR +29.944s
17 Mat JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +31.346s
18 Michael EPPS (GBR) RCIB Insurance Racing +39.350s
19 Stewart LINES (GBR) Maximum Motorsport +52.021s
20 Matt SIMPSON (GBR) Speedworks Motorsport +56.575s
21 Dan WELCH (GBR) Goodestone Racing +1 lap
22 Kelvin FLETCHER (GBR) Power Maxed Racing +1 lap
23 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1 lap
DNF Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +1 lap
DNF Warren SCOTT (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2 laps
DNF James COLE (GBR) Silverline Subaru BMR Racing +2 laps
DNF Martin DEPPER (GBR) Eurotech Racing +3 laps
NC Tony GILHAM (GBR) TLC/RCIB Insurance Racing +8 laps
NC Alex MARTIN (GBR) Dextra Racing +17 laps
EX Ash SUTTON (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance
EX Josh COOK (GBR) MG Racing RCIB Insurance By Marc Waller
