In 2009, 15-year-old Jake Hill arrived at the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit for the Ginetta Junior season finale and delivered such a measured performance that he left all in his wake, including an equally young Tom Ingram.
Hill missed four of the ten weekends of racing that year, Ingram missed three, yet it was the lad from Kent who finished one place ahead in the standings: History sometimes has a funny way of repeating itself.
Despite recording less wins as these two, tied on points, headed into their showdown, Ingram had outwardly looked the most likely. Brimmed with confidence, and with memories of 2022 and 2023 still fresh in his mind, the former champion had tasted both the joy of success and the gloom of defeat at this very meeting for two years running. He not only knew how to win, he knew how to lose too.
From the opening lap of the first free practice session, Ingram launched his attack; harrying Hill, jostling for position, appearing large in his mirrors, and menacing at every opportunity. For a time, it looked like the assault had worked. Hill’s pace was erratic, his lines sometimes pressured. He couldn’t find a rhythm and ended the final qualifying session half a second off his rival; and more tellingly, four places behind.
On any other weekend, the end result might well have been very different. Firstly, it’s important to highlight the absence of multiple champion Ash Sutton from this fight: Had Sutton not been so dramatically torpedoed out of contention on the opening lap of Race 1, there’s little doubt that he could have accumulated the points to take the fight into a three-way bout in Race 3. Cruelly, the incumbent #1 and all watching on the banking and at home on ITV were denied this spectacle as Josh Cook’s Toyota squirrelled sharply left with locked rear brakes, pushing Sutton’s Ford first into Ingram and then into the gravel.
More tellingly though was a commanding performance from four-time champion (and Hill’s WSR teammate) Colin Turkington. An uncharacteristically poor end to the first half of the season, and then a DNF last time out at Silverstone had seen Turkington’s chances of a record-breaking fifth crown evaporate. However, tasked with aiding Hill’s campaign, the pole-sitter not only willingly surrendered his early lead but then delivered a masterclass in defensive positioning to prevent Ingram from making the pass to challenge Hill at the front. For lap after lap, Turkington was unflinching, resisting all that Ingram could muster, seeing both remaining BMWs home in a commanding one-two that would not only set the tone for Hill’s rise to glory but would also reward BMW with the much-coveted manufacturers’ title.
Here are 20 of our top images from this title-winning weekend that saw champions crowned across the BTCC and its support series’.
All images by Steve Hindle
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