✍️ By Amber Reid PLNJS
There’s something about Brands Hatch in October that always feels like the season exhaling — a deep, smoky breath before winter takes over. The leaves turn, the tension spikes, and the final laps decide everything. And this year, Tom Ingram turned that pressure into poetry.
Race 1 — Cammish Takes Control, Hill’s Heartbreak
📸 Courtesy of Ralph Thompson
The opener should’ve been Daryl DeLeon’s moment. The rookie had earned his second consecutive pole, Restart Racing glowing with pride — but then, heartbreak before the lights. A mechanical failure meant he didn’t even take the start. From there, Dan Cammish controlled everything for NAPA Racing UK, leading flag to flag with the kind of calm precision that made it look easy.
Behind him, Tom Ingram quietly did the thing that wins titles — stayed out of trouble. Starting fifth, he avoided the mid-pack scuffles, including Jake Hill’s nightmare collision with Adam Morgan that shredded Hill’s tyre and, honestly, his championship dream. Hill called it “just a touring car rub,” but it was the kind that ends seasons. Ingram’s steady fifth place looked almost uneventful — but it meant Sutton’s ninth-place finish gave him breathing space.
Race 2 — The Championship Decider
And then came the race that had everyone holding their breath.
Ingram started fifth again — but this time, on the softs. He was the only one in the top six to roll that dice, and it paid off spectacularly. By lap three, he was past his teammate Tom Chilton at Surtees, and suddenly, he wasn’t defending a championship lead — he was attacking it.
📸 Courtesy of Ralph Thompson
Two safety cars tried to unsettle him. Ash Sutton, storming from ninth to second, loomed in his mirrors like a ghost. But Ingram didn’t blink. He saved his turbo boost for the final lap, nailed it, and crossed the line first — sealing the 2025 BTCC Championship with one race still to go.
Meanwhile, mechanical gremlins haunted others: Chilton’s alternator failed under safety car, and poor DeLeon’s cursed weekend continued with another DNS due to a bent valve. But in the middle of all that drama, Ingram was pure composure. Calm. Exact. Brilliant.
His team radio said it best: “You’ve done it again, Tingram.”
Race 3 — Cook’s Sweet Redemption
By Race 3, the pressure had shifted — the title was done, and the finale became a showcase of grit. Josh Cook, who’d barely qualified thanks to an oil pressure issue, turned his weekend around completely. Off the reversed grid, he muscled past Aiden Moffat at Surtees for the lead and never looked back.
Behind him, Sutton chased hard, setting the fastest lap but running out of time to catch Cook. Jake Hill — in his final BTCC outing — finished third, fighting through what felt like a farewell storm of emotion and broken parts.
📸 Courtesy of Ralph Thompson
Dan Cammish’s day ended in the gravel after contact with teammate Dan Rowbottom, while Sam Osborne’s post-race exclusion reshuffled the final results. The race had everything: aggression, tactics, and one last flash of Cook’s raw determination.
The Champion’s Weekend
Tom Ingram’s Brands Hatch wasn’t about fireworks — it was about discipline. He arrived leading the standings, not by much, and he knew the only way to keep it was to be smart when others got desperate. His qualifying wasn’t headline-worthy (P5), but that’s the thing about Ingram — he doesn’t chase attention; he builds outcomes.
Race 1: Safe, tidy, smart points.
Race 2: Perfect tyre call, flawless execution.
Race 3: Enjoy it. Drive free.
That’s how champions think.
📸 Courtesy of Ralph Thompson
The Story Beneath the Stats
This BTCC finale wasn’t just about lap times — it was about control under chaos. Cammish and Sutton showed fire, Cook showed heart, but Ingram showed something rarer — emotional intelligence behind the wheel. Every move had purpose. Every decision had balance. It wasn’t flashy, but it was brilliant.
And for a championship built on elbows-out contact and unpredictable twists, that quiet, methodical dominance felt almost poetic.
Brands Hatch 2025 ended in golden light and engine heat. Ingram’s BMW rolled back into pit lane under the kind of applause that feels both loud and deeply human. It wasn’t just a victory — it was vindication. Calm won the storm.
📸 Courtesy of Ralph Thompson
