Team VERTU scored its first win of the 2026 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season at Brands Hatch on a landmark weekend that saw the team secure its 100th podium finish in the series.
The EXCELR8-run team headed into the weekend looking to challenge for a first win of the campaign after mixed fortunes in the Donington Park season opener, with practice seeing the four drivers working to refine their cars ahead of the pre-qualifying session that decided the grid for the Race for the Pole on Saturday afternoon.
Tom Ingram and Tom Chilton both went out in Q1 where Ingram posted the quickest time to secure pole position, with Chilton setting the fifth best time - which would translate to ninth on the grid.
In the second session, Ricky Collard was just 0.048s of earning a place on the front row as he ended up second quickest, with Nicolas Hamilton setting the tenth best time to line up 20th on the grid.
Ingram managed to retain his lead when the Race for Pole got underway, but was unceremoniously run wide by the BMW of Daryl DeLeon going through Graham Hill Bend mid-way through the opening lap - dropping him down to fifth spot.
Team-mate Collard was amongst those drivers to nip through and would ultimately lead the Team VERTU challenge in fourth with Ingram following him home, whilst a difficult race for Chilton saw him finish back in 14th spot having dropped to dead last on the second lap when he was also run off track.
Hamilton would end the race where he started despite being forced into an unscheduled trip to the pits, with the #28 Hyundai showing encouraging pace either side of his stop.
Rain was in the air ahead of Sunday’s opening race with drizzle starting to fall as cars left the grid, with Nicolas electing to gamble on a switch to wet tyres as the field lined up for the start and the shower started to intensify.
When the lights went out, Collard rocketed away from the second row of the grid to move up into third, with Ingram slotting into fourth having been baulked somewhat by a slow-starting car directly ahead off the line.
When Dan Cammish then ran wide at Graham Hill Bend, Collard and Ingram moved up into second and third, with Collard then going on the attack to try and find a way into the lead. Putting pressure on Ash Sutton, Collard briefly managed to get ahead to lead a lap for the first time this season, but would be demoted back to second before the finish.
Running the slower medium compound tyre, Ingram was overhauled by a recovering Cammish to run fourth for a large part of the race, but he reclaimed third four laps from the end to give the team a double podium finish.
Behind, Chilton was in stunning from from 14th on the grid as he stormed through the field to take fifth place, although Hamilton’s gamble on wet tyres would ultimately fail when the rain eased off and he would bring his car back into the pits to retire.
An astonishing second race of the weekend would be held in damp conditions that progressively got worse, with the full field running on slick tyres.
Collard and Ingram held second and third at the start before the safety car was deployed to recover a car from the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend, with Collard going on the attack after the restart to grab the lead from Ash Sutton.
Despite being on the medium tyre, Collard looked well placed to score a first BTCC victory before being overhauled by the soft-shod car of Aron Taylor-Smith, although second place still marked a third success podium for the former British GT Champion. It was a result that also gave the team it’s 100th podium in the series – a figure it has reached in little over six years.
Ingram would find himself embroiled in the rough and tumble of the pack behind and was eventually classified in fourth place, although there was disappointment for Chilton when he was forced to bring his car in to retire with suspension damage after contact.
Following the difficulties of race one, Hamilton produced his best drive for the team so far as he kept his nose clean and rose up the order to score his first points finish of the season in eleventh spot. That marked the second highest finish of his BTCC career to date, with Hamilton also setting the fastest lap amongst those cars to be on slick tyres; his lap only being bettered by those who elected to switch to wet tyres in the pits as the race wore on.
With the top eight reversed on the grid for the weekend finale, Ingram led the team’s challenge from fifth at the start but found himself boxed in when the lights went out despite getting off the line well.
Undeterred, he battled his way to the front by the end of lap two and was untroubled at the front from that point on as he secured a first win of the year for both himself and the team.
It would be a more challenging race behind however, with Chilton the next best Hyundai in twelfth place having started from the back of the grid after his earlier problems. Collard’s hopes of a third podium of the weekend had earlier been ended when he was forced off track and had to bring his car into the pits with grass having filled the radiator, with Hamilton a lap down in 19th place having also been forced to pit after an off-track excursion shortly after the start.
Tom Chilton, #3 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “I think I’ve probably made up more places than anyone else this weekend, but it’s been frustrating and it goes back to being forced off track at the start of the qualifying race as that pretty much ruined things for me for Sunday.
“Being down the order at a circuit like Brands Hatch Indy is always going to be tough but to be fair, we had a really good run in race one to come through to fifth place, which was the highlight of the weekend for me.
“Unfortunately, contact in a straight line then damaged my suspension in race two and it put me to the back again for race three, and on the medium tyre when most of the field were on softs. We managed to bag some points but I was hoping for more from the weekend.”
Ricky Collard, #11 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “It’s been a really good weekend for me, although it’s a bit of a shame that it ended the way it did in the final race as we could have been coming away from Brands Hatch with three podiums – which would have been absolutely awesome.
“I’m still learning about this car so to be two rounds into the season and already have three podium finishes to my name is a huge positive and it shows we are in a really good place. The first two races showed what we’re capable of and we just need to keep working hard to get onto the top step.
“I’ve won in every championship I’ve competed in apart from this one, and I’m confident that we’ll come out strong at the next round and be in the mix at the front.”
Nicolas Hamilton, #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “Scoring points this weekend is the first mission accomplished for me this year, and they came in such a difficult race. Being on slicks in those conditions is the hardest combination you can face and it was a case of making sure I kept my head together and kept the car on track.
“I could see that others were making mistakes so I was focusing on making sure that I didn’t do the same and the pace in the car was good – we ended up being the quickest driver on slicks which was really cool.
“Getting points on this board this early in the season is good because it takes the pressure off a little bit but I’m one of those people who always wants more and the focus now is on trying to push for a trophy. I know there is more still to come.”
Tom Ingram, #80 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N, said: “For a while it looked like it was going to be another weekend where nothing went our way, but we managed to recover it with the victory in race three. It’s not been a stellar, amazing meeting for us in terms of points but we’ve done okay, and it was important to get that victory as circumstances have conspired against a little until then.
“We’ve not had the rub of the green a lot in the opening rounds and even in that final race, I made a mega start but then got boxed in going up to turn one and it looked like Ash was going to be able to sail around the outside and take advantage.
“However, one thing that isn’t in doubt is the pace we have in the car and clearly we’re fast, which we were able to show in getting to the front and then controlling things from the front. It’s still early in the season and there’s a long way to go, so we’ve got to keep our heads and make sure we’re in the right place at the right time going forward to capitalise on the speed we have.”
Justina Williams, Team VERTU Team Owner, said: “We’re delighted to pick up our first win of the season in what proved to be a really challenging weekend with the weather conditions as they were for the races. To come away with a trophy from each race is hugely pleasing and it was also fantastic to see Nic rewarded with some points for a strong performance in the second race.
“Clearly we’ve got work still to do to close the gap to those ahead in the standings, but we’ll keep pushing hard and aim to fight for more wins.”
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