Tom Ingram fired himself and Cheshire-based Speedworks Motorsport back in to contention for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship title with victory at Silverstone.

Ingram is in second spot in the table, 34 points behind championship leader Colin Turkington.

Ingram qualified 12th, though just a little over three-tenths of a second off pole position, in the ultra-competitive series that saw 29 cars set times within one-second of each other.

The former Ginetta champion finished race one in 15h, but followed it up with a fine drive to finish on the top step of the podium in race two.

Starting seventh in the reverse-grid draw for race three, Imgram had it all to do again, and by lap six he was up to second spot, closely followed by Turkington in his BMW.

Ingram spent the final six laps of the race defending from the former BTCC champion, and despite a last-lap lunge, hung on to cross the line in second, just 0.101secs ahead of the BMW.

Ingram said: It was a hugely important day for us. We’ve closed the gap down and it’s on to Brands Hatch now.

“We’re in the best shape possible. You’d say we’ve got the strongest car.

“We’re lighter on weight and we’re in the driving seat.”