Brome-based EXCELR8 Motorsport team celebrate dream weekend at Croft ahead of British Touring Car Championship's summer break
Proud Suffolk team owner Justina Williams hailed EXCELR8 TradePriceCars.com’s weekend at Croft as ‘the perfect way to enter the summer break’.
The outfit based at Brome, just outside Eye, continued a rich vein of form in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship last weekend with a double victory – and a first ever one-two finish – as the 2022 season hit the half-way stage in north Yorkshire.
Tom Ingram had grabbed a pair of race wins to maintain his title challenge earlier in the month at Oulton Park. But it was the work round-the-clock to rebuild team-mate Daniel Lloyd’s heavily damaged car from that weekend which really paid dividends.
Lloyd, who qualified one place ahead of Ingram for third on the grid, got himself into the lead before producing a defensive masterclass in race one to keep Colin Turkington at bay.
He then produced another fine drive from the front of the grid in his Hyundai i30 Fastback N to make it two wins from two and only the second and third of his career.
Ingram, who finished fourth in race one, followed him home having set the fastest lap for the second race running.
The first race had also seen all four EXCELR8 drivers inside the points for the first time, with Tom Chilton coming 10th and James Gornall – drafted in for the absent Jack Butel – 14th.
Chilton also took his best result of the campaign in race two with 9th, which he then matched on the reverse-grid final outing.
Ingram stayed out of trouble to work his way through to seventh to ensure he now sits back on top of the championship standings, with Lloyd capping the best weekend of his BTCC career with 11th.
“It’s been the most fantastic weekend for us as a team, and I’m hugely proud of the results that we have been able to achieve across the board,” said Williams, whose Bristol Street Motors-sponsored team has now taken the outright lead of the Teams’ Championship with EXCELR8/Hyundai second in the Manufacturers’/Constructors’ title race ahead of the BTCC resuming at Knockhill on the final weekend of July.
“After the effort that has gone in over the last two weeks, to come away from Croft with another two victories and our first ever one-two finish is brilliant, and the perfect way to enter the summer break.
“For Dan to get his first wins for the team was a dream come true and he drove fantastically all weekend, as did Tom Ingram to regain his lead in the championship.
“I feel sure that Tom Chilton will now be able to show what he is really capable of after his best showing of the season, and James did a great job to score points when you consider he had never driven the car before.
She added: “The season so far has been a great one for us but we can’t rest on our laurels, and we need to work hard during the five week break before Knockhill to make sure we come out fighting when we get to Scotland.”
