Ingram scores Croft British Touring Car pole

Tom Ingram took pole for the 16th round of the British Touring Car Championship season at Croft Circuit, as the series resumed after a six-week break.

It was a day of domination for the team Vertu driver in his Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance, who topped both practice sessions, as well as the first group in the first part of qualifying, and the second part of qualifying before nabbing pole with a 1m20.522s. He beat NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish by 0.267s to claim his second pole of the season, and his second in a row after topping qualifying for the first race of the previous event at Oulton Park.

Mikey Doble continued Motor Parts Direct with Power Maxed Racing’s impressive form with its aging Vauxhall Astra to qualify third, a further 0.147s back, with Tom Chilton putting in a late lap to claim fourth.

Daniel Rowbottom in another NAPA Ford Focus ST and Daniel Lloyd in his Restart Racing-entered Hyundai completed the runners in the final part of qualifying to claim fifth and sixth on the grid respectively.

Ahead of that final session to determine the top-six grid positions for the first of three races on Sunday, Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Aron Taylor-Smith with the first to miss out, ending Q2 in seventh, ahead of Senna Proctor, Charles Rainford – the highest-placed BMW on what has historically been a strong circuit for the manufacturer – his West Surrey Racing teammate Darryl DeLeon, and Ash Sutton.

The championship leader only had one second of "TOCA Turbo Boost" (TTB) to use during his qualifying laps and that, allied with a track limits breach at Turn 5, led to him finishing Q2 down in 11th. Adam Morgan also failed the advance in 12th.

In the first part of qualifying – where the field was split into two groups – Dexter Patterson, James Dorlin, Gordon Shedden, Stephen Jelley (who has moved from One Motorsport to Un-Limited Motorsport for the remainder of the season, taking the place of Max Hall) – all dropped out from the first group.

Max Buxton was another to fall. The 19-year-old will race the fourth Toyota Gazoo Racing UK Corolla for the remainder of the season, taking the spot previously occupied by Ronan Pearson at the first four weekends of the season and by Finn Leslie last time out at Oulton Park.

In the second Q1 group, Chirs Smiley – who was caught out by a track limits violation – Aiden Moffatt, Sam Osborne, Nic Hamilton and Nick Halstead all failed to advance.

Starting behind the top six of Ingram, Cammish, Doble, Chilton, Rowbottom, and Lloyd, and the Q2 exiters Taylor-Smith, Proctor, Rainford, DeLeon, Sutton, and Morgan, will be Patterson in 13th, ahead of Smiley, Dorlin, Moffat and Shedden, with Osborne, Jelley, and Hamilton completing the top 20, and Buxton and Halstead completing the field.

Jake Hill didn't qualify, having withdrawn from the weekend due to a viral infection. The reigning champion drove in first practice, but sat out of FP2, with four-time champion Colin Turkington driving his car, but with doctors having not cleared Hill to qualify, WSR made the decision to pull the No. 1 BMW 330i M Sport from the remainder of the weekend.

One Motorsport, which has fielded a pair of Honda Civic Type-Rs for Josh Cook and Jelley so far this season, is also absent from this weekend, and will sit out the next event at Knockhill in Scotland in two-weeks’ time as well, with team owner Steve Dudman facing a number of ongoing health issues.

All three of Sunday's races will be shown live on the RACER+ app, with Race 1 at 7:10amET, Race 2 at 9:30am ET, and Race 3 at 12:00pm ET. You can find out more about the RACER+ App at racerplus.com.

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