Tom Ingram claimed pole position for the first race of this weekend’s Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship event at Oulton Park, with an impressive showing in the Quick Six shootout this afternoon (Saturday).
Adam Morgan set the initial Quick Six session benchmark on the Island Circuit at the wheel of the only BMW to make the final part of qualifying, but the times rapidly tumbled with NAPA Racing UK’s Ford Focus STs rising to the top midway through the session.
It was reigning champion Ash Sutton who led the Ford attack, despite arriving in Cheshire with the minimum amount of hybrid boost available as series leader. But the four-time title winner offered a reminder of his talents to progress gracefully through each of the knockout sessions before challenging for pole in the Quick Six segment.
Ingram saved his best effort until late on however, setting the timing screens alight with a series of personal best sectors with just minutes remaining on the clock to claim the top spot. The 2022 champion’s best effort of 1m24.194 was enough to force Sutton to settle for second as the curtain fell on the session.
Behind Sutton it was Dan Cammish who claimed third in the Quick Six dash, lapping just thousandths of teammate Sutton’s pace.
Tom Chilton produced his best qualifying performance of 2024 to claim fourth in another of the Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS Hyundais, albeit three-tenths adrift of Ingram’s best effort. Daniel Rowbottom was fifth quickest with Morgan eventually ending up sixth after not improving on his early time.
Jake Hill, who arrives at Oulton Park as the man in form following a run of four victories from the most recent six races just missed out on making it into the Quick Six. Hill narrowly made it into the second part of qualifying before falling just short to secure a seventh place start.
Others who will start in the top-10 in Sunday’s opening race include Aron Taylor-Smith in eighth, who translated his frontrunning Free Practice session into a strong grid slot, Colin Turkington in ninth and Josh Cook.
Three BTCC races are scheduled for Sunday, with the first at 12.25pm. Tickets are available on the gate with free entry for under-13s.
Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship, Oulton Park, Quick Six Qualifying
- Tom Ingram, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS, Hyundai i30N, 1m24.194s
- Ash Sutton, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +0.124s
- Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +0.197s
- Tom Chilton, Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS, Hyundai i30N, +0.303s
- Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK, Ford Focus ST, +0.308s
- Adam Morgan, Team BMW, BMW 330e M Sport, +0.588s
Click here for full timings from this weekend.