BTCC: Thrills and Spills on Penultimate Weekend
The Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship's penultimate weekend of the season arrived at Silverstone for rounds 25,26 and 27.
It was another epic day of touring car racing at the home of British Motorsport and the fans were not disappointed with the amount of thrills and spills this weekend had to offer.
In race one of the weekend it was Sam Tordoff who took a lights to flag victory in what was his first of the season. He made a good getaway from pole position but immediatly had to defend from the fast starting BMW of Ricky Collard, who in the latter stages of the lap, ran wide and fell down as far as fifth as Tom Chilton, Andrew Jordan and Jack Goff all slipped through. It would be Motorbase that would enjoy a one-two finish, but it was the fight for the final place on the podium that changed hands after a power problem for Jordan, saw him forfeit the position to Jack Goff, who was re-passed around the outside by Ricky Collard.
In the second encounter of the day, it was Tom Ingram who was grabbing all the headlines after another incredible drive from the youngster saw him start 15th and finish the race on the top step of the podium.
Running ballast free in this race, Ingram made light work of a number of drivers throughout the race but it was his final moves that got everybody's attention. Coming onto the back straight, Ingram pulled out of a slipstream following Chilton and Morgan and the three cars went side by side, with Ingram pulling clear and finishing the move around the outside at the end of the straight. Towards the end of the race he then reeled in the Ford Focus of Sam Tordoff and passed him with relative ease to take another memorable win. Tordoff and Morgan made up the podium places.
That win for Ingram made sure that it was still all to play for in the championship standings.
The final race of the day was a thrilling one, with the Mercedes Benz of Aiden Moffat becoming the 16th different race winner this season.
At one point during the race, there was a six way battle for the lead which included Moffat, Ingram, Austin, Cook, Chilton and Turkington.
Turkington made his way past Chilton and Cook before taking his time to pick an overtaking spot past the very wide Alfa Romeo of Rob Austin a few laps from the end.
The young Scot Moffat had defended incredibly well throughout the race and was set to take his first win of 2018. Just behind him, The BMW of Turkington gave Ingram a few troubles and forced the Toyota to spend the final few laps defending for his life, but he hung on for vital points ahead of his nearest rival.
Josh Cook took fourth with Rob Austin just behind in an excellent fifth and Chilton rounding out the top six.
With the final weekend of the BTCC now in sight, there are now only three drivers with a mathematical chance of the title, Colin Turkington, Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton.
The BMW man leads the way going into the final weekend with a 34 point cushion but as we all know, this is the BTCC and absolutely anything can happen.
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