Tom Ingram flies to Oulton Park pole

Team Vertu’s Tom Ingram claimed his first pole position of the season in qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Oulton Park, almost half a second quicker than second-placed Chris Smiley.

Ingram also posted a new qualifying lap record with his time of 1 minute 23.856 seconds, bettering the record which he had himself set at the Cheshire circuit one year previous.

Restart Racing’s Smiley had been on top in his Q1 group, before also topping Q2. But the Northern Irishman lacked the pace to take pole in Q3, with Ingram proving to be a class act despite having 12 seconds less boost per lap than Smiley.

NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish was third, ahead of team-mate Ash Sutton in fourth, the Ford duo separated by just 0.061 seconds. Cammish was one of four drivers in Q3 to lose a lap time due to exceeding track limits.

Toyota’s James Dorlin made it into Q3 for the second event in a row and qualified in fifth, with Team Vertu’s Adam Morgan in sixth, having had a spin at Old Hall corner in the ‘Quick Six’ session.

Team Vertu’s Tom Chilton was the fastest of those not to get into Q3 and put his Hyundai in seventh, ahead of One Motorsport’s Josh Cook in eighth – the Honda driver had stayed out to avoid a tyre swap in Q2 due to light rain early in the session, but used up the best of his tyres early on and couldn’t improve as the times tumbled.

Charles Rainford was the best of the WSR BMW’s in ninth, as the rear-wheel drive cars continued to struggle at Oulton Park, with Team Vertu’s Senna Proctor scraping together a lap time near the end of Q2 to take tenth, having lost numerous laps for track limits infringements.

Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble was 11^th, whilst Toyota’s Árón Taylor-Smith was 12^th, nine tenths off the Q2 pace.

Reigning champion Jake Hill was 13^th after failing to get out of his Q1 group, ahead of NAPA Racing UK duo Sam Osborne in 14^th and Daniel Rowbottom in 15^th – the latter disappointed not to go beyond Q1 after earlier topping the opening practice session of the weekend.

Daniel Lloyd had been second quickest in his Q1 group behind Cammish, but the Restart Racing driver had all his lap times disallowed after failing the post-session ride height check.

Toyota’s Gordon Shedden only managed a time which was nearly ten seconds off the pace in his Q1 group, leaving the Scot to start from last for Sunday’s opening race, which takes place at 12:20 BST on Sunday.

‘Quick Six’ results

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	80		Tom INGRAM	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:23.856	–
2	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:24.329	0.473
3	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	7	1:24.345	0.489
4	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	7	1:24.406	0.550
5	132		James DORLIN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	6	1:24.454	0.598
6	33		Adam MORGAN	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:24.553	0.697

Drivers failing to progress from Q2

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
7	3		Tom CHILTON	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:24.586	0.454
8	66		Josh COOK	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	7	1:24.677	0.545
9	99		Charles RAINFORD	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	7	1:24.729	0.597
10	18		Senna PROCTOR	Team Vertu	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:24.737	0.605
11	88		Mikey DOBLE	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	6	1:24.830	0.698
12	40		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	6	1:25.034	0.902

Drivers failing to progress from Q1

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
13	1		Jake HILL	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	BMW 330i M Sport	7	1:24.871	0.705
14	77		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	6	1:25.023	0.555
15	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus ST	6	1:24.926	0.760
16	2		Daryl DELEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	7	1:25.126	0.658
17	17		Dexter PATTERSON	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	6	1:25.126	0.960
18	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts Racing with WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	7	1:25.252	0.784
19	12		Stephen JELLEY	One Motorsport	Honda Civic Type-R	6	1:25.678	1.512
20	93		Max HALL	ROKiT Racing with Un-Limited Motorsport	CUPRA Leon	6	1:25.724	1.256
21	26		Finn LESLIE	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	6	1:25.977	1.811
22	50		Nick HALSTEAD	Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing	Vauxhall Astra	6	1:26.567	2.099
23	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Powder Monkey Brewing Co with Esidock	CUPRA Leon	6	1:26.191	2.025
24	123		Daniel LLOYD	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 N Fastback	6	1:24.540	Disallowed
25	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK with IAA	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	6	1:33.930	9.764