BRIGHT END TO SEASON FOR HUGHES’ SPEEDWORKS AT BRANDS HATCH

It was a bright end to the season under gloomy skies for Stockport based Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport as Tom Ingram ended his rookie season with an impressive weekend as the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship visited Brands Hatch in Kent.

Tom qualified the team’s Toyota Avensis 11th on the grid for the first of three races around the Kent venue’s Grand Prix circuit with the circuit drying all the time, despite suffering from a vibration from the car’s gearbox that the team went on to work hard into the night to cure.

“Qualifying had become a bit of a lottery” explained team boss, Christian Dick, “it just became a fight to see who crossed the line last [as the track dried]. I’d say I was as happy as I could be given the conditions with 11th place when the Red Flag came out [to recover the stricken Ford of Dave Newsham]”.

Race one started again on a drying track with everyone opting for slicks, as the opening lap saw Ingram evade the first corner melee as a multiple car accident brought the Safety Car out early with the young charger already up to 10th place. Tom would go on to make up two more places with the former Ginetta Champion finishing 8th overall at the flag.

Tom made up yet more places during race two crossing the line in sixth place at the end, only to be promoted to 5th place as race winner Jason Plato [MG] was given a twenty second penalty for his clash with the eBay BMW of Colin Turkington.

Heavy darkened skies had been looming in the distance for much of the afternoon and, as predicted, the heavens opened perfectly in time for the last race of the day. In awful wet and dark conditions Ingram, drawn in 6th spot for the ‘reverse-grid’ stood strong, putting all of his relatively limited experience in front-wheel-drive machines to the best use, bringing the Avensis home in 9th place overall.

“That’s the best all-round day we’ve seen of Tom all season” confirmed Christian, “he’s been a proper Touring Car racer today. He’s been robust when he’s needed to, and he’s taken it easy when necessary.

“That’s the worse conditions he’s had to drive [in race three] in a front-wheel drive car – he’s driven professionally and brought the car home in yet another top ten position”.

Elsewhere on track there were wins for Plato, Adam Morgan – a first ever win for a Mercedes in the BTCC, and Gordon Shedden [Honda].

Colin Turkington wrapped up the Dunlop MSA BTCC Championship for the second time in his career, taking the Independents and Teams Championship along with it. MG/888 won the Manufacturers/Constructors Championship.

The Hughes/Speedworks outfit finished the season in 7th in the Independents Team Trophy, incidentally, first of the single-car teams. Tom Ingram finished the 2014 season in 11th in the Independents Trophy, whilst climbing to 14th in the overall Championship, of the thirty-two cars entered.