Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS will head to the final rounds of the 2024 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship in the midst of one of the tightest title battles in recent memory after a double victory in the penultimate weekend of racing at Silverstone.
The EXCELR8-run team headed to the Home of British Motorsport looking to maintain its challenge for the most prestigious title in the country, with driver Tom Ingram sitting second in the championship standings; just nine points off leader Jake Hill.
The Silverstone weekend started in positive fashion on Saturday when Tom Chilton put the #3 Hyundai i30 Fastback N onto top spot in both free practice sessions, with Ingram and Dan Zelos also lapping in the top ten and Nick Halstead getting himself to within a second of the quickest time.
All four drivers would be drawn in the first group for qualifying as the weather began to take a turn for the worse, and whilst Zelos and Ingram were both able to make it through to Q2, Chilton and Halstead both missed out – ultimately leaving them tenth and 17th on the grid for race one.
Ingram and Zelos would progress through to Q3, which would prove to be a session of mixed emotions as Ingram inherited pole – and a vital extra point – after the provisional pole sitter failed the ride height test.
Unfortunately for Zelos, his car also failed the post-session checks following a suspension problem, which saw him demoted to the back of the grid.
Weather conditions had worsened considerably going into race day, with Ingram making the most of having clear track in front of him to vault into the lead at the start of race one. Despite the set-up on his car not being ideal, Ingram was able to establish a handy advantage at the front which he could then keep a charging Hill at bay in the closing stages for a fourth win of the year.
Behind, Chilton was in fighting mood as he battled his way up into sixth in the closing stages of the race before a post-race penalty for contact with Josh Cook whilst fighting for position saw him demoted back a spot to seventh.
Arguably the strongest drive of the race came from Zelos as he made light of his grid demotion to charge his way through the field from the back of pack to take an impressive tenth place, with Halstead falling just short of the points in 16th.
Ingram maintained his lead at the start of race two, but would ultimately slip back down to fourth as he once again found the set-up of the car not to his liking, but there was more progress for Zelos who maintained his earlier impressive form to climb up two further spots to take the flag in eighth – securing a new personal best result for the third successive race.
Halstead was on fine form as he raced his way into the points scoring positions before being knocked back to 16th late on when multiple champion Ash Sutton was able to fight his way ahead. An unfortunate penalty for being out of position at the start would drop him down to 18th in the final result, whilst there was disappointment for Chilton when a throttle body issue put him into retirement.
With the top six reversed for the final race, Ingram lined up on the second row of the grid but a demon start saw him rocket into the lead at turn one in what was now torrential weather conditions, with Zelos, Chilton and Halstead all finding themselves struggling to see anything in the spray within the chasing the pack.
The conditions would ultimately lead to the race being halted for nearly half an hour before it was deemed safe to resume and Ingram was able to retain his position at the front through to the finish, despite a last corner scare when he was accidentally hit by the chasing Ash Sutton.
Zelos once again starred as he fought his way ahead of former World Champion Rob Huff to climb as high as fifth place before ultimately taking the flag in sixth place. Although he was then docked two places post-race for an incident on track, eighth place was still more than enough to give him the weekend victory in the Jack Sears Trophy in just his second weekend in the series.
Chilton was able to battle his way through to twelfth from the back of the grid, with Halstead taking 18th spot but finishing up just a handful of seconds away from the points on what was one of his strongest weekend showings to date.
With just the Brands Hatch season finale left to run, Ingram is now second in the championship standings only by virtue of the fact that title rival Hill has scored seven wins to his five, with the pair dead level in terms of points.
