DROITWICH-based Team Bristol Street Motors made a strong start to the new British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season with two race wins on the opening weekend at Donington Park.
Coventry racer Tom Ingram won race one and race two to top the drivers’ standings at the end of the weekend, nine points ahead of closest challenger and defending champion Ash Sutton.
Ingram pipped Sutton to top the podium in race one and race two before finishing fourth in race three to cap a fine weekend for the 2022 champion.
Ingram, driving in the Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “I don’t think I’ve ever had such a good start to a season, with pole, two wins and fourth. I’ve had a great car and as Max Verstappen would say, it’s been a lovely weekend.
“The way things all started with the weather delays was difficult we you don’t know what the circuit will be like, and just how wet things are going to be, so it was a bit fruity in the first race and to win was great.
“Race two however was even better as you could argue we shouldn’t have won that with the new hybrid rules, so the fact we did showed how strong the car is. That’s all down to the hard work that we’ve done over the winter and a solid result in race three just wrapped up, so it’s all feeling good.”
Fellow Team Bristol Street Motors driver Ronan Pearson crossed the line fifth in race one but dropped to 17th in race two and suffered a DNF in race three.
And Tom Chilton placed 11th in races one and three either side of a DNF in race two while Nick Halstead finished 16th in race one and race two before dropping a place to 17th in race three.
Team Bristol Street Motors sit third in the teams standings behind NAPA Racing UK and LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ.
The team return to the track at Brands Hatch from May 11 to 12 for the second race weekend of the new BTCC season.
