Tom Ingram continued his early season form to take victory in the second race at Donington Park and take the lead of the British Touring Car Championship.
Ingram capitalised on boisterous defending from early leader Aiden Moffat against Rob Collard to take second on lap two, before relieving the Mercedes A-Class of the lead into Hollywood a couple of laps later.
With defending champion and pre-race championship leader Gordon Shedden running wide after overcooking his entry at Coppice, subsequently dropping to fifth behind an impressive showing from Josh Cook, Speedworks’ Ingram takes a seven-point lead in the standings.
Team BMW’s Collard battled through to second after finally besting Moffat into the final chicane at half distance, but was unable to break down the three-second advantage Ingram had extended.
Ashley Sutton rounded out the podium finishers with a superlative drive, having started the opening race of the day from the last row of the grid. In doing so Subaru claimed their first podium finish of the season after a difficult start. Such as Sutton’s pace that he made up ten places over the course of the race.
Sutton could have challenged Collard for second after reigning in the Team BMW driver in the closing stages, but yellow flags at the final chicane curtailed the BRDC Rising Star’s late attempt on the runner-up spot.
At the beginning of the race, the front row made a level start, closing off an initial threat from the fast-starting BMW pairing of Collard and Turkington, before the former tapped Rob Austin’s Toyota Avensis out of second at the Old Hairpin. Austin would eventually finish his race in the gravel trap a few laps later.
Andrew Jordan and Mat Jackson, team-mates at Motorbase Performance last season, spun out together at Schwantz Curve. Jackson retired his Ford Focus ST after contact with the tyre barrier, whilst the Pirtek-backed BMW continued to score a single point in 15th aswell asa bonus point for the fastest lap of the race.
Matt Simpson and Ollie Jackson completed the list of casualties after the former made contact with Mike Epps’ Volkswagen CC and spun back into the path of Jackson’s Audi S3.
His team-mate, reigning UK Clio Cup champion Ant Whorton-Eales, scored his first points in the BTCC with 12th.
BTC Norlin Racing’s Dave Newsham was another to boost his mixed start to the campaign with eighth in the BTC Norlin Chevrolet Cruze.
Wet weather has yet to strike Donington Park as expected despite some light rain after race one. The final race is scheduled to begin at 17:22.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME/GAP | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 80 | Tom INGRAM |  |
Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 16 | 19:09.281 | 1:10.512 | 5 | |
| 2 | 5 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 3.865 | 1:10.773 | 6 |
| 3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 4.085 | 1:10.487 | 13 |
| 4 | 66 | Josh COOK | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 10.112 | 1:11.035 | 10 | |
| 5 | 4 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 14.134 | 1:10.878 | 4 |
| 6 | 52 | M | Gordon SHEDDEN | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 15.340 | 1:11.120 | 7 |
| 7 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 20.817 | 1:11.558 | 2 |
| 8 | 17 | Dave NEWSHAM | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 21.912 | 1:11.423 | 19 | |
| 9 | 31 | Jack GOFF | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 24.793 | 1:11.640 | 12 | |
| 10 | 2 | M | Tom CHILTON | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 27.670 | 1:11.253 | 27 |
| 11 | 33 | Adam MORGAN | |
Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 28.118 | 1:12.132 | 8 | |
| 12 | 10 | Ant WHORTON-EALES | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 16 | 28.196 | 1:12.061 | 16 | |
| 13 | 55 | Jeff SMITH | |
Eurotech Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 16 | 28.241 | 1:12.367 | 9 | |
| 14 | 16 | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 16 | 35.766 | 1:12.419 | 1 | |
| 15 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 16 | 36.144 | 1:10.409 | 15 |
| 16 | 300 | Luke DAVENPORT | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 36.500 | 1:11.875 | 32 | |
| 17 | 22 | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Norlin Racing | Chevrolet Cruze | 16 | 36.829 | 1:12.085 | 26 | |
| 18 | 40 | M | Árón TAYLOR-SMITH |  |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 37.210 | 1:12.296 | 23 |
| 19 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 16 | 37.474 | 1:12.075 | 14 |
| 20 | 99 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 37.775 | 1:11.471 | 28 |
| 21 | 23 | M | Daniel LLOYD | |
MG Racing RCIB Insurance | MG6GT | 16 | 38.046 | 1:12.153 | 24 |
| 22 | 7 | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport | Ford Focus | 16 | 39.632 | 1:12.679 | 20 | |
| 23 | 12 | Mike EPPS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 40.332 | 1:11.666 | 25 | |
| 24 | 20 | M | James COLE | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg GT | 16 | 41.484 | 1:12.353 | 29 |
| 25 | 30 | Martin DEPPER | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 16 | 41.684 | 1:11.931 | 30 | |
| 26 | 24 | Jake HILL | |
TAG Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:00.116 | 1:11.979 | 31 | |
| 27 | 61 | Will BURNS | |
Autoaid / RCIB Insurance Racing | Volkswagen CC | 16 | 1:14.522 | 1:12.036 | 22 | |
| R | 48 | Ollie JACKSON | |
AmDtuning.com with Cobra Exhausts | Audi S3 | 14 | 2 Laps | 1:11.996 | 17 | |
| R | 28 | M | Josh PRICE | |
BMR Racing Academy | Subaru Levorg GT | 14 | 2 Laps | 1:11.854 | 21 |
| R | 303 | M | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 13 | 3 Laps | 1:12.147 | 18 |
| R | 11 | Rob AUSTIN | |
Handy Motorsport | Toyota Avensis | 3 | 13 Laps | 1:13.021 | 3 | |
| R | 3 | Mat JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Duo | Ford Focus | 0 | 16 Laps | N/A | 11 |