Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS secured plenty of silverware from the fourth meeting of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Thruxton, with two podium finishes and victory in the Jack Sears Trophy.
On a weekend where the team celebrated its 100th race with title partner Bristol Street Motors, things started in promising fashion in free practice, with Tom Ingram – running the #100 to celebrate the milestone, as well as Bristol Street Motors’ centenary – topping the times during the second session.
With Tom Chilton also lapping inside the top ten and Ronan Pearson not far behind, confidence was high going into qualifying, where Ingram and Chilton both made it through to the final Quick Six shootout for pole.
Despite limited hybrid due to his championship position, Ingram stormed to pole by more than a quarter of a second, with Chilton ending up in sixth spot for his best qualifying result since Silverstone last year.
For Pearson and Nick Halstead however, it would be a more difficult session, with Halstead ending up 19th on the grid having dropped out of the session in Q1 and Pearson failing to even leave the pits due to an unfortunate throttle issue on his car.
A tough start to race one saw Ingram overhauled off the line when the lights went out as he slipped back to fourth, which is where he would ultimately then finish having put pressure on defending champion Ash Sutton following an early caution period to move a tyre stack dislodged at the chicane.
Chilton meanwhile moved up into fifth spot on the opening lap of the race but was overhauled by both Dan Rowbottom and Josh Cook after the restart to leave him in seventh spot. Post-race, Rowbottom was penalised for having drawn alongside Chilton too early on the restart, resulting in him being demoted in the result and moving Chilton up into P6.
The dislodged tyre stack on lap one proved to be beneficial to Pearson as he took advantage of cars scattering in front of him to make up five spots and jump into the points, ultimately taking the finish in 15th place. Halstead was able to stay out of trouble to bring his car to the flag in 19th.
A fine start in race two saw Ingram battling for third spot with Dan Cammish going into the chicane, with Ingram forced to cut through the middle of the corner to avoid clashing with the Ford.
Overhauling Sutton when he picked up damage to his splitter, Ingram then drew up to leader Jake Hill before taking the lead with a fine move at Church, going on to secure a 30th career win.
Post race however, Ingram was handed a two-place penalty for gaining an advantage when passing Cammish, which demoted him back to third spot.
Shuffled back to eight on the opening lap, Chilton ran strongly in the midfield pack but would ultimately slip to just outside the top ten by the finish, putting him directly ahead of Pearson after a strong showing from the Scot saw him battle back from a difficult start – where he dropped down to 18th place – to rise up into twelfth.
Halstead repeated his result from the earlier race, taking the flag in 19th, but lapping nearly a second quicker than he had in race one.
The final race of the weekend kicked off with Ingram lining up in eighth place on the reverse grid and he was soon making up places, with impressive moves on Jake Hill and Josh Cook helping him work his way up into fifth. A strong move around the outside into the chicane then resulted in Ingram grabbing fourth from Colin Turkington before he repeated the move on Adam Morgan a lap later, only to be forced off track and across the chicane by the BMW driver.
