Tom Ingram holds off late pressure from Dan Cammish to win eventful Croft finale

Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Tom Ingram fended off late pressure from Dan Cammish’s charging Honda to take victory in the final British Touring Car Championship race at Croft.

Reversed-grid polesitter Tom Chilton made a strong start to the final encounter, holding off fellow Honda racer Dan Cammish into turn one as the latter lost out to Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla into Clervaux for the first time.

The 2018 runner-up then made short work of getting past erstwhile leader Chilton with a brave move at the Jim Clark Esses, with the latter then falling back into the clutches of Cammish as further title drama unfolded behind as reigning champion Colin Turkington slowed seemingly with a mechanical issue after contact with Ollie Jackson’s Ford.

The race then appeared to settle down slightly before the safety car was called on the third tour as Bobby Thompson flipped dramatically as his Audi S3 dug into the dirt on the inside of the Jim Clark Esses, a huge shunt which thankfully the Essex racer would walk away from unscathed.

Once the race resumed, Cammish immediately set about pressurising Chilton for second, with the pair of FK8 Honda Civics both pushing hard as their brakes glowed red hot especially on the entry to Sunny In.

After dropping back potentially to cool his brakes, Cammish then made a bold lunge to the inside at Tower Bend with a handful of laps remaining before closing the gap to leader Ingram, but ultimately settling for the second spot on the podium,

The result elevates Cammish ahead of Turkington in the Drivers’ championship, to go just seven points behind standings leader Sutton with six races remaining.

After being passed by the Team Dynamics-run entry, Chilton then held on to complete the podium positions ahead of triple champion Matt Neal, while 2017 champion Sutton made amazing progress from the back of the grid to complete the top five runners.

Brands Hatch race three winner Tom Oliphant had kept Sutton behind for many laps but would eventually finish in sixth ahead of the Honda duo of Jake Hill and double race winner Josh Cook as the pair finished in seventh and eighth positions respectively.

Excler8 Motorsport’s Senna Proctor matched his race two result in ninth position in his Hyundai i30 Fastback N, while Sutton’s Laser Tools Racing team-mate Aiden Moffat completed the top ten.

Motorbase Performance’s Rory Butcher also enjoyed a recovery drive after his off at the chicane in race two which demoted him to the back of the grid for the final contest, ultimately finishing just ahead of team-mate Ollie Jackson in 11th and 12th positions.

Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan secured another points finish in his Mercedes-Benz A-Class, while Stephen Jelley’s BMW and Sam Osborne’s Honda rounded out the points-paying positions.

Just six races remain in the 2020 British Touring Car Championship, with the series returning to action in a fortnight at Snetterton 300.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	DRIVER	NAT	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	80	M	Tom INGRAM		Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters	Toyota Corolla	18	27:32.909	1:22.639	3
2	27	M	Dan CAMMISH		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	0.278	1:22.362	2
3	3	I	Tom CHILTON		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	5.001	1:22.957	1
4	25	M	Matt NEAL		Halfords Yuasa Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	6.453	1:22.991	5
5	116	I	Ashley SUTTON		Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	18	6.472	1:22.103	20
6	15	M	Tom OLIPHANT		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	18	7.129	1:22.773	7
7	24	I	Jake HILL		MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Honda Civic Type-R	18	8.099	1:22.468	4
8	66	I	Josh COOK		BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	18	8.548	1:22.437	6
9	18	I	Senna PROCTOR		Excelr8 Motorsport	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	10.235	1:22.790	9
10	16	I	Aiden MOFFAT		Laser Tools Racing	Infiniti Q50	18	10.435	1:22.882	11
11	6	I	Rory BUTCHER		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	18	10.894	1:22.729	19
12	48	I	Ollie JACKSON		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	18	11.438	1:22.981	22
13	32	I	Adam MORGAN		Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	13.535	1:22.928	13
14	12	I	Stephen JELLEY		Team Parker Racing	BMW 125i M Sport	18	16.681	1:22.858	10
15	4	I	Sam OSBORNE		MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square	Honda Civic Type-R	18	16.825	1:23.559	14
16	44	I	Andy NEATE		Motorbase Performance	Ford Focus ST	18	17.677	1:23.207	16
17	21	I	Mike BUSHELL		RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport	Volkswagen CC	18	18.639	1:23.442	15
18	31	I	Jack GOFF		RCIB Insurance Racing with Fox Transport	Volkswagen CC	18	18.975	1:23.067	18
19	22	I	Chris SMILEY		Excelr8 Motorsport	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	25.669	1:23.700	12
20	32	I	Jack BUTEL		Carlube Triple R Racing with Mac Tools	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	18	29.487	1:24.344	17
21	28	I	Nicolas HAMILTON		ROKiT Racing with Team HARD.	Volkswagen CC	18	31.497	1:24.405	25
22	41	I	Carl BOARDLEY		Team HARD.	BMW 125i M Sport	14	1:22.945	1:23.599	24
23	1	M	Colin TURKINGTON		Team BMW	BMW 330i M Sport	2	4 Laps	1:21.781	23
R	19	I	Bobby THOMPSON		GKR TradePriceCars.com	Audi S3	2	DNF	1:23.800	8
R	777	I	Michael CREES		The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing	Honda Civic Type-R	–	DNF	N/A	21
NS	29	I	Jac CONSTABLE		Power Maxed Car Care Racing	Vauxhall Astra	0	DNS	N/A	–