The British Touring Car Championship’s hybrid era began in style at Donington Park, with three different race winners driving three different makes of car and lap records broken to prove the speed of the new cohort first time out.
Tom Ingram kept four-time champion Colin Turkington at bay to win the BTCC’s first hybrid race in his Excelr8 Hyundai i30 N Fastback, before engaging three-time champion Gordon Shedden’s Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type R in a duel for race two honours.
Hybrid boost deployment tactics came into play, with Shedden getting the nod. Then WSR’s new signing, Jake Hill, ended a tricky weekend (with expulsion from the race one podium for a ride-height infringement) with a victory in his new BMW 330e.
Ash Sutton was second in that final race to cap his first weekend driving a Motorbase Ford Focus ST, while Hill set new BTCC qualifying and race lap records at the circuit.
Ingram leads Shedden and Sutton in the points standings, with Brands Hatch (Indy) next up on 14-15 May.
Motorsport greats
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