Ingram faces a mountain to climb if he’s to make it back-to-back titles – the one rival to three-time champion Ash Sutton is 45 factors adrift heading into the aggressive motion – however he was on kind within the opening session early on Saturday morning.
Ingram’s Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N headed the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport of Jake Hill by a mere 0.018 seconds in FP1, and neither driver’s occasions had been crushed within the lunchtime FP2 session.
With the Manufacturers weekend unusually that includes tyre alternative for qualifying – the Goodyear medium or gentle compound – many of the main occasions had been set on carry-over gentle rubber from earlier race weekends, together with these of Ingram and Hill.
“It’s a weekend of most assault from our aspect,” promised Ingram. “There’s probably not rather a lot what we are able to do [for the championship].
“We’re simply going to do the most effective job we are able to, and if something occurs on Ash’s aspect we have to capitalise on it.”
Sutton, driving his Ford Focus ST run by the renamed Alliance Racing squad, was simply 0.172s adrift of Ingram’s greatest in third quickest in FP1, however languished 18th afterward – he was one spot behind Seventeenth-placed Hill, with each on medium tyres, and his earlier greatest dropped him to sixth total.
Up into third total with the quickest time of FP2 got here Josh {Cook} on the wheel of his One Motorsport Honda Civic Kind R.
The West Countryman edged out Ricky Collard’s Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla by the tiny margin of 0.004s, and his second quickest time was additionally faster than the Hampshireman’s greatest – by 0.001s.
Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Energy Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra
Picture by: JEP / Motorsport Images
Additionally on kind was Bobby Thompson in his Group Laborious Cupra Leon – the hard-trying Essex man went third in FP2, fifth total, and set a time throughout an earlier run on medium tyres simply 0.15s adrift of his greatest on softs.
Perception: The potential BTCC race winner trying to make it to the front
Fourth in FP2, and seventh total behind Sutton’s FP1 time, was Silverstone poleman Mikey Doble together with his Energy Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra, simply forward of team-mate Aron Taylor-Smith.
Stephen Jelley’s FP1 greatest in his WSR BMW was good for ninth total forward of the sister machine of Colin Turkington, who was sixth in FP2 – the four-time BTCC champion set the quickest time on medium rubber in that session, simply 0.021s forward of Ingram, adopted by Thompson’s medium effort.
Every session featured a crimson flag, with FP1 interrupted halfway by way of when Adam Morgan parked his WSR BMW on Cooper Straight with a damaged propshaft, and FP2 halted within the early knockings to retrieve the One Honda of Aiden Moffat from the Hawthorns gravel entice.