LADY LUCK DRIVES OFF AT SILVERSTONE FOR HUGHES’ TEAM

Lady luck had definitely done a runner as the Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport team descended on the ‘Home of British Motorsport’, for the penultimate rounds of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship at Silverstone.

Free Practice 1 and 2 looked a little lacklustre on paper as Tom Ingram – pictured left – put the Stockport outfit’s Toyota Avensis 20th and 13th on the respective timesheets, but a closer look showed that the former Ginetta Champ wasn’t a million miles off, just 9 tenths of a second off in FP1 and 5 tenths off in FP2 – the BTCC’s fantastically competitive grid was proving hard to crack.

Qualifying was just as tough, with no less than twenty-three cars covered by less than one second, but Ingram had saved his best for last, qualifying 7th on the thirty-one car grid, just two tenths of a second off the pole lap of MG ‘works’ racer, Jason Plato.

It was a warm and sunny Silverstone awaiting the crowds for raceday, where most were expectantly waiting to see whether or not eBay BMW’s Colin Turkington could take the BTCC crown, or if Jason Plato could take the battle to the wire at Brands Hatch in a fortnights time.

Race one saw Tom’s luck yet again desert him, as he suffered a puncture two laps from the end, meaning that the Hughes Safety Showers backed machine would have to start race two from 26th on the grid after the team had finished removing the contents of Silverstone’s gravel trap from in and around the Avensis.

Ingram, charging hard, was making his way up the order – running as high as 19th place, though perhaps trying a bit too hard as the BTCC rookie ended up penalised with a Drive-Through Penalty for exceeding track limits, dropping him back to 27th place, and with a mountain to climb in race three.

Tom, once again gave it everything he had in race three, fighting his way up to 19th place at the flag as the sun set on an exciting days racing in Northants,

At the head of the field it had all been about Turkington and Plato, as Jason took the spoils in the first two races, leading Turkington home in second. Whilst ‘Turks’ managed to get on the podium in race three too, claiming third spot in the ‘reverse-grid’ shootout, with Plato narrowly behind in 4th. It was left to Ford Focus driver Mat Jackson to take victory.

Colin leads the overall Championship with three races to go at Brands Hatch on the 12th October, leaving Plato with an outside shot at the 2014 title. The Independent Championship is mathematically done and dusted, as eBay’s Turkington takes the crown, as long as he doesn’t suffer any penalties from now until the Brands showdown is over.

Ingram still sits 11th in the Independent Championship, and 15th overall, whilst the team sits in 8th spot in the Independents Teams Trophy.

NEWS!! – Elsewhere, Hughes/Speedworks team sponsor Tony Hughes, owner of Bredbury based Hughes Safety Showers confessed, after being asked about the teams involvement in 2015, that the team was “here to stay”. Hughes, talking to Talkative Broadcasting let slip; “It could be one, two, maybe three cars, who knows, watch this space!”

Full interview here: http://www.talkativebroadcasting.co.uk/2014/09/motorsport/btcc/tony-hughes/