EXCELR8 Motorsport's Ingram and Chilton shine at Donington tyre test

Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Motorsport driver Chilton was the man to beat in the morning session at the Leicestershire venue before team-mate Ingram took over the reins in the afternoon.

As well as gleaning important data on the company’s tyre compounds, it was also an opportunity for teams up and down the paddock to learn more about what worked – and what didn’t – with car set-up ahead of their return to the circuit for rounds 16, 17 and 18 at the end of this month.

It will be the first time since 2002 that the longer Grand Prix layout has hosted a meeting of the UK's premier tin top competition.

Held in dry and warm conditions, the morning session – which had to be red flagged for a period after the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport BMW of Jake Hill’s developed an oil leak at the Old Hairpin section of the track – was dominated by Chilton aboard his Hyundai i30 Fastback N.

He chalked up a total of 29 laps, with his best effort of one minute 33.648 seconds 0.081 seconds quicker than the West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport of Colin Turkington and 0.179 seconds up on Turkington’s team-mate, Adam Morgan.

NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Rowbottom finished fourth at the controls of his Ford Focus ST in one minute 33.853 seconds and a steadily improving Ingram just rounding out the top five positions.

“It’s been great,” was Chilton’s straightforward assessment, with the rubber put down during last weekend’s World Superbike Championship races helping matters. “The car was working really nicely and we’re following our test programme extremely well – but it is really hard on tyres here.”

In the afternoon, Ingram steered his front-wheel-drive Hyundai i30 Fastback N to the top of the timesheets. There was a very familiar look to the leaderboard as Ingram – currently second in the points’ standings – was being closely pursued by triple champion and runaway leader of this season’s Championship, Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK).

However, Sutton found himself demoted late on by the CarStore Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra of Aron Taylor-Smith, Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Rob Collard and the BMW 330e M Sport saloon of four-time series winner Turkington.

After three hours and 20 minutes of on track action, the five were covered by just 0.291 seconds, with Hill recovering from his earlier setback to miss out on fifth by a mere 0.094 seconds.

"It's been a good day and we've got loads done, especially with tweaking and finding little bits and pieces to improve. It's always nice to get back in the car and get refreshed before Croft in a couple of weeks," said Ingram.

2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Combined Classification, Goodyear Tyre Test – Donington Park

1. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 1:33.197s
2. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.064s
3. Ricky Collard, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +0.151s
4. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +0.204s
5. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +0.291s
6. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +0.385s
7. Tom Chilton, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +0.387s
8. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +0.417s
9. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +0.432s
10. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.444s
11. Daryl DeLeon, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +0.482s
12. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +0.585s
13. Daniel Lloyd, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +0.721s
14. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +0.821s
15. Mikey Doble, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.831s
16. Dexter Patterson, Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD +0.972s 
17. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW +1.061s
18. Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK +1.228s
19. George Gamble, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +1.442s
20. Nathan Harrison, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +1.563s
21. Nic Hamilton, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +2.515s
22. Nick Halstead, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +2.555s