Tom Ingram claimed his fifth win of the 2025 BTCC season in race three at Donington Park on the grand prix loop. He fought his way up from fifth place at the start and had a brilliant battle on track with his title rival Ash Sutton. He now sits 32 points clear at the top of the standings with six races to go.
Ingram and Sutton door to door
The gloves are very much off for these two at this point of the season. Sutton had a lot of work to do if he was going to keep Ingram behind for the majority of the race on the inferior tyre. But he wasn’t going to let the Hyundai streak off into the distance easily. Lap 3 saw Ingram trying a move around the outside of the Melbourne Hairpin but Sutton showed Ingram the grass on the outside. He was more succesful the following lap at the hairpin. This time getting to the inside of Sutton and fending off a fightback into Redgate.
With his medium tyres, he managed to get some daylight between him and Sutton with a new lap record. However, his hard work quickly came undone as a safety car was called out on lap nine.
Halstead slows to a halt
Nick Halstead’s Cupra came to grief at the top of the craener curves which bought the safety car out on lap nine. A large cloud of smoke followed him, as it looked like he spun on his own oil.
Safety car restart
The safety car bunched the field up and pulled into the pits on lap 14. Ingram restarted the race well and managed to build a safe gap behind him to Sutton. Sutton was trying to pressure Ingram into the Melbourne Hairpin but he couldn’t force a mistake out of the Hyundai driver.
The main battle in the closing laps was between Aron Taylor-Smith and Jake Hill both on their hard tyres. They were scrapping hard over fourth position with Taylor-Smith not letting his position slip. He secured fourth in a brilliant day for the Toyota team.
Dan Rowbottom had a brilliant race and climbed nine places up to a podium. Rowbottom continues his great streak of race three results
Tom Chilton also climbed nine places after a difficult race two up to sixth place. Capping off a good day for the Hyundai driver.
Dan Lloyd claimed his second independant win of the weekend and finished in eight overall. Another great result for the Restart Racing crew despite Chris Smiley dropping out of race three.
Daryl DeLeon had a day to remember in the Jack Sears Trophy. He claimed three wins in that category, further extending his lead over BMW teammate Charles Rainford.
The BTCC will be back in three weeks time for the penultimate round of this enthralling season at Silverstone. The home of British motorsport plays host to three crucial rounds in which Ash Sutton must close the gap to Tom Ingram if he wants to go into the finale at Brands Hatch with a chance of taking a fifth drivers title. Raceday will be Sunday the 21st of September.
The Top 15 for Race Three:
RESULTS ARE PROVISIONAL
1. Tom Ingram 2. Ash Sutton 3. Dan Rowbottom 4. Aron Taylor-Smith 5. Jake Hill 6. Tom Chilton 7. Gordon Shedden 8. Dan Lloyd (Independant Winner) 9. Daryl DeLeon (Jack Sears Winner) 10. Charles Rainford 11. Josh Cook 12. Dan Cammish 13. Aiden Moffat 14. Sam Osbourne 15. Senna Proctor
Main Image credit: BTCC