Tom Ingram secured his first Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship title in a tense season finale at Brands Hatch this afternoon. Ingram made certain of the crown with fifth place during a dream race for his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com squad in which his teammate Dan Lloyd claimed victory.
There were two separate races within the final contest of the season on the full Grand Prix circuit, with a battle for the race podium at the head of the field, whilst a separate fight for the overall title unfolded a little further back.
Lloyd drove well from the front and was largely untroubled on his way to the finish line. Josh Cook made a bid for the lead at Druids midway through the 17-lap race, but that was as close as he got to claiming a sixth win of the season.
The title drama kicked off almost immediately, with Ingram moving alongside Hill at Paddock Hill bend after the pair both started from the fifth row on the reverse grid. The duo ran around the Grand Prix circuit side-by-side all the way to Westfield before Ingram made the most of his position on the inside to move in front. Ahead of them, the third title protagonist Ash Sutton climbed into sixth position as he set about trying to build a buffer to his chasing rivals.
By lap two, Ingram were past Colin Turkington ahead to move into eighth and ninth, and the pack was dramatically split by a spin for Dan Rowbottom further back. Rowbottom avoided everyone enabling the race to continue, albeit briefly before the safety car was summoned for a separate off-track excursion involving Rick Parfitt Jr.
As the race resumed, Sutton made the best progress of the title challengers, moving up to third after Adam Morgan ran wide. Further back, Ingram and Hill were struggling to find a way past Sutton's NAPA Racing UK teammate Dan Cammish.
Sutton ceded third place to Rory Butcher on lap nine, and the following time around Jake Hill made a very good move on Ingram at Sheene after producing a strong run through Dingle Dell. It was shortly after this that the title battle really started to bunch up at Druids, with Sutton and Morgan touching before the latter was collected by Cammish on the exit of the hairpin.
The result of this was that the three remaining championship rivals were all together on the circuit as the season entered its final few laps, with Sutton fourth from Hill and Ingram. Hill seemed to have a pace advantage over Sutton during this phase, but he couldn't quite find an opening.
The championship protagonists ran together right up until the penultimate lap of the race when Hill spied a chance to overtake Sutton at Clearways. He ran side-by-side with Sutton onto the Brabham Straight before running wide into Paddock Hill Bend. This proved to be the final decisive moment of the 2022 BTCC season, with Ingram securing fifth and the title whilst Hill slipped to seventh.
George Gamble split the championship fight in sixth, with Cammish, Jelley and Aiden Moffat the others to complete the top-ten.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Race 3, Brands Hatch
1. Daniel Lloyd, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8
TradePriceCars.com, Hyundai i30N, 17 Laps
2. Josh Cook, Rich Energy BTC Racing, Honda Civic Type R,
+0.724
3. Rory Butcher, Toyota GAZOO Racing, Toyota Corolla GR Sport,
+4.409
4. Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Fiesta ST, +8.555
5. Tom Ingram, Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8
TradePriceCars.com, Hyundai i30N, +9.479
6. George Gamble, Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport, BMW 330e M
Sport, +9.831
7. Jake Hill, ROKiT MB Motorsport, BMW 330e M Sport, +10.327
8. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Fiesta ST, +11.472
9. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +17.304
10. Aiden Moffat, Laser Tools Racing, Infiniti Q50, +21.511
For full timing and results please click here.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Standings
1. Tom Ingram, 3934 points
2. Ash Sutton, 382 points
3. Jake Hill, 381 points
4. Colin Turkington, 348 points
5. Rory Butcher, 318 points