- Reigning champion ramps up title defence with standout Oulton Park display
- EXCELR8 Motorsport ace the only driver to reach the rostrum in all three races
- Hyundai star enters BTCC’s mid-season break with momentum on his side
Ingram headed to Oulton as the BTCC’s form driver around the popular Cheshire circuit, holding both the qualifying and race lap records there in the UK’s premier motorsport series. He was also aware, though, that his lack of TOCA Turbo Boost (TTB) – a mere three seconds per lap in qualifying by dint of his second place in the standings, when the majority of the field had access to 20secs – would significantly disadvantage him around a track noted for its undulating nature and steep climbs.
That being the case, eighth on the grid was a commendable effort, and the defending champion went immediately on the offensive in Saturday’s ‘Race to Pole’, gaining two spots around the outside of Old Hall Corner on the first lap prior to displacing Mikey Doble to advance to fifth. Thereafter, he engaged in a no-holds-barred duel with championship leader Ash Sutton, flashing past the chequered flag right in his arch-rival’s wheeltracks and posting the second-fastest lap along the way.
Following a post-race penalty ahead, fifth would become fourth, which is where Ingram duly began the first of Sunday’s three full-length contests, in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and a capacity on-site crowd. On a cold, damp track surface, the Team VERTU star moved up to third when Sutton and Josh Cook tangled at Cascades, and then proceeded to hassle the latter for second as the top three sped clear of the chasing pack.
Each time he looked likely to launch an attack, however, Toyota driver Cook – with the maximum ten-lap complement of TTB at his disposal compared to just two for Ingram – would deploy his extra boost to edge away. That ultimately meant there was no way through, but third place for the talented Bucks-born ace – barely a second shy of the winner – was nonetheless an excellent result.
The downside to his strong start to the day was that Ingram would consequently have to run the hard-compound Goodyear tyres for race two, as per the regulations for the top three finishers from race one. With 17 of his high-calibre adversaries on the considerably quicker soft rubber and only three laps of TTB to play with, he knew he was facing an uphill battle – but there is nothing the 32-year-old likes more than a fight.
When the lights went out, Ingram wasted no time at all in passing Cook into Turn One, and while he inevitably had to give best to a charging soft-shod Sutton, he was then able to take advantage of a furious multi-car squabble behind to focus on going forward rather than looking in his mirrors. After catching second-placed Dan Cammish while simultaneously judiciously withholding his boost, his pressure paid off as he sliced up the inside into Lodge with three laps remaining to deservedly cement the runner-up spoils.
Back onto the softs for the day’s finale, the Coventry-based racer lined up tenth on the partially-reversed grid and picked up three places over the course of a characteristically feisty opening tour. Following a safety car intervention due to an accident further down the order, Ingram again served notice of his intent by scything past four more cars in the space of a single lap – around a circuit where overtaking is famously a fine art – before relieving pole-sitter Smiley of third.
His Hyundai i30N’s headlights ablaze, he swiftly set a new fastest lap – which would not subsequently be beaten – in his pursuit of Charles Rainford and Ricky Collard ahead. Comfortably the quickest driver on the track, the two-time title-winner had latched onto team-mate Collard’s tail and was poised to pounce when the safety car was summoned again at mid-distance, but once the action resumed, the top two exploited their superior boost allocation to remain in front.
Third place nevertheless made Ingram the only driver in the field to reach the rostrum in all three races, and enabled him to cut his deficit to Sutton in the chase for the coveted crown from 57 points to 48, with a seven-week hiatus now before the campaign continues at high-speed Hampshire venue Thruxton on 25-26 July.
Tom Ingram, Driver, Team VERTU, said:
“After our tricky start to 2026, we needed a solid, plain-sailing, pointsy weekend at what is probably my favourite circuit on the calendar, and that’s exactly what we had. Ash [Sutton] and I shadowed each other throughout Saturday’s ‘Race to Pole’; it got slightly spicy at times and he played a bit of a game in backing me up into the traffic, but for the first time this year, I felt that in the heat of battle, we had an edge over him. Despite not really making any changes, the car felt better in race trim than in qualifying, which left us in a good position going into Sunday.
“The left-hand side of the grid wasn’t the nicest place to be in race one due to the damp patches, so I was conscious the launch would be difficult but the coming-together between Josh [Cook] and Ash played in our favour. Knowing I had just two laps of TTB compared to Josh’s full deployment, I was happy to stay on the right side of risk and bank the points for third place – I had my grown-up head on with the bigger picture in mind!
“It was important to overtake Josh quickly at the start of race two, though. Given the big difference in performance, you can get absolutely eaten alive on the hard tyres – whoever the soft-shod pack reaches first tends to be a bit like a lamb to the slaughter.
“Ash came past me like an absolute steamroller, and there was no point in putting up too much of a fight as I was never realistically going to be able to beat him. After that, Dan [Cammish] and I worked together to create a gap over the drivers behind, and the way they were knocking chunks out of each other certainly helped! The hard tyre worked surprisingly well, and the car felt really racy. I honestly hadn’t expected to finish second – I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to stay inside the top ten, so I was really chuffed with that.
“In race three, we had to try to make some serious progress in a relatively short space of time with the two safety car interruptions. The Hyundai felt fantastic back on the soft tyre – even better than in qualifying, and we actually ended up going quicker than we had in qualifying! If we can have a car like that every single time over the second half of the season, I think we’ll be in good shape.
“Overall, I reckon we got as much out of the weekend as we could have done, considering our TTB allocation going into it. As a team, we’ve knuckled down and worked really, really hard to overcome the setbacks we’ve faced over the opening rounds. The goal was to reduce the gap in the points table into the forties, which we achieved, and we had an incredibly fast car throughout, which is really encouraging.
“We’ve ended the first part of the season very strongly – three podiums around Oulton is fairly difficult to pull off, but we did it and now we can go into the summer break with a spring in our step. I think we’ll be even stronger over the remainder of the season, and I’m already looking forward to properly taking the fight to Ash at Thruxton. It’s still clearly a tall order, but if we can keep chipping away like this, it’s definitely doable.”
Images: Jakob Ebrey Photography