Turkington's double at Donington, Ingram gives first win to Corolla

The reigning BTCC champion Colin Turkington celebrated two wins today at Donington Park in the second round of the 2019 British Touring Championship season. He secured a pole position for his #1 BMW 330i M Sport and then converted it to a victory in Race 1. Another win followed in the second race. In the third race of the weekend, Tom Ingram has won in the #80 Toyota Corolla GT, what is the first BTCC win for new Toyota.

Colin Turkington was the fastest qualifier and then won two races at Donington Park

After setting the fastest time in qualifying, Colin Turkington converted his first pole position in over two years into a relatively comfortable victory, crossing the finish line more than two seconds ahead of Ashley Sutton (Adrian Flux Subaru Racing). Tom Oliphant made it a double podium for West Surrey Racing/Team BMW, finishing the race in the third place, what was his maiden BTCC podium in a career.

The race started with an accident on Lap 1, involving seven cars. Five drivers retired from the race. At the restart, one more accident followed with two drivers involved. The third accident happened shortly after between two cars. In front of the reduced field, Turkington cruised to his first win in a new BMW 330i M Sport.

Colin Turkington’s #1 BMW 330i M Sport

In the second race, Colin Turkington again managed to convert the first starting position into a victory, despite 54kg ballast on his BMW. He ended the race, interrupted by several incidents and two safety car periods, with a 2.151sec advantage over Matt Neal (Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda). Ashley Sutton climbed to a podium for the second time in two races, finishing third.

Tom Ingram finished the second race in the tenth place, what became decisive when reverse grid lottery brought out the number 10, meaning that Ingram would start Race 3 from a pole.

Tom Ingram’s #80 Toyota Corolla

Same as Turkington in the first two races, Tom Ingram converted pole position into a victory in Race 3, his tenth BTCC victory in a career and the first with brand new Toyota Corolla. After nineteen laps, Ingram crossed the finish line 1.092sec ahead of Rob Collard in Power Maxed Racing’s Vauxhall Astra. Josh Cook brought BTC Racing’s Honda Civic Type R to the third place.

Rory Butcher’s AmD-run Honda and the Ash Sutton’s Subaru finished fourth and fifth respectively. Fifth place secured enough point to Ashley Sutton to take the championship lead after six races. He has 70 points, three more than Josh Cook. Colin Turkington and Tom Chilton are tied with 65 points, Rory Butcher follows in the fifth place with 64 points.

The next BTCC event is scheduled for May 18-19 at Thruxton Circuit.