STOCKPORT BASED BTCC TEAM CLOCK UP 100 RACES

Last weekend was another eventful time in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship for the Bredbury based Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport squad, this time at Rockingham in Northamptonshire.

The team was celebrating a milestone in the BTCC; one hundred races since they joined the Championship with Tony Hughes back in 2011. Owner of [team sponsor] Hughes Safety Showers, Tony beamed with pride as they unveiled a special ’100′ cake in front of the outfit’s entire back-catalogue of BTCC racers (Hughes, Simon Belcher, Ollie Jackson, Adam Morgan, Dave Newsham, Paul O’Neill & Tom Ingram).

”I’m very proud to be involved with the Team as a sponsor now” explained Hughes, “It’s been a great journey so far, I just hope we can finally banish our podium misfortune and make it on to those, so far, illusive steps”.

The weekend started brightly, despite the fog enveloping the Northants venue, with Tom posting sixth and fourth fastest times in Free Practice 1 & 2 respectively. He couldn’t translate it into qualifying however as, by his own admission, a lock up under braking led to a trip across the gravel, upsetting his confidence on the brakes for the rest of the session, and with such a competitive field around him, only a little more than one second separated the top twelve places on the grid.

”It was me” admitted Tom, “I just couldn’t get back on it again after the lock-up. We were getting quicker again as the session went on but we ran out of time in the end”.

Race day took place under glorious blue skies, and a solid start saw Tom finish in the points and 13th on the road. It was race two that put paid to any ambitions of finishing higher, when a race long tussle with former Champion Matt Neal [Honda] led to contact from the Honda causing a puncture. The resulting damage meant Ingram had to retire with just two laps of the race remaining.

Tom lined up 24th on the final grid of the day, and proved what the Team’s Toyota Avensis is capable of with an almighty charge up the grid that saw the former Ginetta Champion finish 11th overall. “Race three was good!” Tom replied when asked about his day, “I’m a bit disappointed overall, but it’s just shown what we’re capable of at the end there”.

Elsewhere, there was two dominant wins for current Championship leader Colin Turkington [BMW] and a well deserved second ever BTCC race win for fan’s favorite Rob Austin [Audi] who led from second on the grid in the final race of the day.

Turkington remains the overall and Independents Championship leader, whilst Jason Plato [MG] has now climbed ahead of Gordon Shedden [Honda] to claim second in the standings. Tom remains in 11th spot in the Independents Championship, 15 points off 10th placed Jack Goff [VW], and also stays 15th in the overall standings. The team are 7th in the Independents Team Trophy.