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BTCC Brands Hatch: Tom Ingram wins finale for early points lead

Tom Ingram won the final British Touring Car Championship race at Brands Hatch to move into the lead of the drivers' standings after the opening three rounds of the campaign

The Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis driver, who leapt from 11th on the grid to seventh on the opening lap, profited as cars ahead tripped over each other to make his way up to second place after only seven laps.

He overtook leader Rob Austin's HMS Racing Alfa Romeo as the pair began lap 13 and then powered clear to an untroubled victory.

Austin was forced into defensive mode in the latter part of the race as a charging Adam Morgan in the Ciceley Mercedes hunted him down. Morgan made his move with two laps to go and secured the runner-up spot.

Ingram, who is three points clear in the standings from race one winner Jack Goff (Eurotech Honda), said: "To come from 11th is an amazing feeling but it was all about the good work at the start.

"The car was so strong in that race with no weight in. That is going to be crucial for us for the rest of the season.

"I was able to get the power down coming out of Clearways no matter what line I used, and that was enough to get me ahead of Rob. There was pressure on me this weekend, but I feel like we have proved a point now."

Morgan said that the result belied his Mercedes' speed.

"We had pace all day, but things didn't play my way," he said. "The car was superb in that last race though and I was following Rob in the Alfa and I could see that his tyres were going off.

"He just left a chink going into Clearways. Second is a solid result for us."

Behind Austin, reigning champion Ash Sutton hauled his Team BMR Subaru Levorg to a fourth place finish with a late move on Team Hard's Mike Bushell.

Bushell had earlier been involved in an incident with AmDTuning.com Audi man Ollie Jackson going into Clearways.

Rory Butcher, in the AmDTuning.com MG, was sixth ahead of Matt Simpson and his team-mate Goff.

Colin Turkington powered his WSR BMW 125i M Sport from 27th on the grid to ninth, just in front of the Power Maxed Vauxhall Astra of Josh Cook.

Race three result

Pos Driver Team Car Laps Gap
1 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 27 23m52.580s
2 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 27 3.237s
3 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 27 4.202s
4 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 27 8.939s
5 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 27 10.376s
6 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 27 10.500s
7 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 27 10.992s
8 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 27 11.913s
9 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 27 12.068s
10 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 27 12.503s
11 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 27 12.894s
12 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 27 14.628s
13 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 27 15.033s
14 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 27 15.127s
15 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 27 15.634s
16 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 27 17.254s
17 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 27 17.321s
18 Tom Boardman AmD Tuning MG 27 20.438s
19 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 27 21.777s
20 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 27 22.413s
21 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 27 22.831s
22 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 27 26.435s
23 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 27 26.775s
24 Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen 27 26.953s
25 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 27 28.041s
26 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 27 28.288s
27 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 25 2 Laps
28 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 25 2 Laps
29 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen 24 3 Laps
- James Nash BTC Norlin Honda 7 Retirement
- James Cole Motorbase Ford 1 Retirement
- Rob Collard WSR BMW 1 Retirement

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