BTCC: Victories for Ingram, Turkington, Butcher at Snetterton

Tom Ingram (Team Toyota GB), Colin Turkington (Team BMW) and Rory Butcher (Cobra Sport AmD) are the winners of three BTCC races at Snetterton, in the sixth round of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship season.

Each of them already won races this year. Ingram and Butcher celebrated their second victories while Turkington climbed to the top podium spot for the fifth time this season, extending the lead in the championship.

Tom Ingram (Team Toyota GB)

After securing pole position by just 0.002 seconds, Tom Ingram clinched his second win this year in the #80 Toyota Corolla. While Ingram’s first victory at Donington Park came in the reversed-grid race, this was the first time that the new Corolla has proven to be the pace-setter from the outset.

Unchallenged by anybody, Ingram won a race with a three-second gap ahead of Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish in the #27 Honda Civic Type R. Another Honda driver Sam Tordoff completed the podium in the #600 Civic of Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance. Championship leader Colin Turkington finished fourth in the #1 BMW 330i M Sport. Turkington’s WSR teammate Andrew Jordan completed the top 5.

Colin Turkington in the #1 BMW 330i M Sport

In the second race of the day, Team BMW’s Colin Turkington came out on top of a five-car battle to win for the fifth time this season. Dan Cammish was short again, finishing in the second place for the second race in a row. BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan took the final spot on the podium.

Pole-sitter Tom Ingram led the first half of the race. On lap 7, a slight touch from Turkington’s BMW pushed Ingram wide over the gravel. When the dust settled it was Turkington leading from Cammish and Jordan, with Ollie Jackson in fourth in his Team Shredded Wheat Racing’s Ford Focus. The leading quartet remained unchanged until the end of the race. Sam Tordoff finished fifth in the AmD-run Honda.

Rory Butcher has won frenetic third race

Eighth-placed Chris Smiley (BTC Racing) was rewarded with pole position for the reverse grid Race 3. He didn’t manage to convert it into his second win in a career, finishing third, eight seconds behind race winner Rory Butcher. It was a double podium for BTC Racing because Josh Cook was second in the #66 Honda.

Early in the race, Jason Plato was in the lead in Power Maxed Racing’s Vauxhall Astra. Ash Sutton was following him in a Subaru. They touched several times before Sutton took the lead but Plato soon recaptured the lead. Behind their back, Rory Butcher stormed his way from 12th on the grid while Josh Cook progressed from P15. The climax came when Plato, Sutton and Butcher went three-wide down the back straight. At Brundle’s turn Butcher carved his way down the inside of both, Plato was bumped wide and slid into Sutton’s Subaru.

Once he was in the lead, Butcher stayed in front to claim his second win of the season, sharing a podium with BTC Racing duo of Cook and Smiley. Jason Plato ended the exciting race in the fifth place, behind his teammate Rob Collard. Team BMW’s Colin Turkington secured valuable points with a tenth-place finish.

After eighteen races in 2019, Colin Turkington leads the championship standings with 235 points on his account, thirty-six more than Andrew Jordan. Rory Butcher is third with 177 points. Josh Cook and Dan Cammish follow with 166 and 165 points respectively.