Tom Ingram scored a strong British Touring Car Championship victory at Thruxton in Race 3, with half of the running disrupted by a safety car.
The reverse-grid Race 3 saw James Dorlin start on pole position, though he was immediately forced into second place by Tom Ingram – whose weekend has been much better than the results.
After a hectic opening lap, the stewards called the safety car after an incident involving Dexter Patterson and Chris Smiley inspired a domino that also saw Adam Morgan, Árón Taylor-Smith, and Charles Rainford in the wars.
Lewis Selby also spun after suffering suspension damage from a collision with Ryan Bensley – that saw the latter retire with a front-right wheel failure.
Once the officials extended the race to 19 laps, running resumed on lap 9 with Ingram leading – though under investigation for his start procedure.
The restart saw feisty racing across the field, with Ash Sutton and Dan Cammish getting by Dorlin, as Ricky Collard and Senna Proctor both climbed excellently to P5 and P7. One with an opposite stroke of fortune was Josh Cook, who had fallen all the way to P13.
Collard would go one better two laps later by putting his Team VERTU Hyundai ahead of Dorlin’s Restart Racing counterpart, as Cook went one worse by being shown the black-and-orange flag for a mechanical issue.
The promising afternoon would continue to dwindle for Dorlin as hard-charging Proctor made it 10 overtakes by climbing to P5 on lap 12.
Aiden Moffat had been another beneficiary of the chaos towards the back, climbing 11 places to P11 by lap 14. However, as if by virtue of a journalist’s curse, the Scot pulled off and retired from the race.
After such a chaotic start, the race was due to calm – and with a few laps to go it did.
And by the chequered flag, it was Ingram who took the provisional victory. Sutton followed, with Cammish completing the podium.
The highlight pair of Collard and Proctor came behind, with Dorlin P6 for another Independents’ victory of the weekend – and second Jack Sears Trophy victory of his career.
Shedden, Tom Chilton, and Patterson completed the best 10. Dan Rowbottom, Daryl De Leon, Smiley, Rainford, and Nic Hamilton rounded out the points.
BTCC Thruxton Race 3 Results
Full classification to follow…
Discussion about this post