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DTM & Touring Cars20 Apr 20262 min readBy Motorsports Global Desk

Ingram Stripped of BTCC Donington Opener as New Boost System Snares Hyundai

Defending BTCC champion Tom Ingram has been disqualified from his opening-weekend Donington Park win after the series' new Closed Loop Boost Scrutineering (CLBS) system flagged a significant overboost on his Hyundai i30 N Fastback. Mikey Doble inherits the victory in his first ever BTCC race-win.

Ingram Stripped of BTCC Donington Opener as New Boost System Snares Hyundai

Key Takeaways

  • 1.Sutton, meanwhile, walked away from the weekend as arguably the biggest net winner: his consistency across all three races leaves him at the sharp end of the championship as the BTCC field heads to its next round with the teams acutely aware that CLBS is watching every lap.
  • 2.The Power Maxed Racing driver had been one of the paddock's most talked-about young charges through the latter half of 2025, and leaves Donington with a full-distance win on his record — even if it did not come at the chequered flag.
  • 3.CLBS is the BTCC's most significant technical governance change in years, automating a process that previously required post-session data review by officials.

The British Touring Car Championship's new Closed Loop Boost Scrutineering (CLBS) system delivered a savage debut weekend verdict at Donington Park, as defending champion Tom Ingram was stripped of his opening-round victory for a significant overboost infringement on his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback.

The disqualification promoted Power Maxed Racing's Mikey Doble — once the provisional pole sitter last summer before being denied by Cook — to a maiden BTCC race win, with Ash Sutton elevated to second in his Alliance Racing Ford Focus Titanium. Charles Rainford completes the revised top three in the West Surrey Racing BMW 330i M Sport.

BTCC technical chief Sam Riches explained the series' hard-line stance.

"In races, a driver must not finish while still in a penalty state," Riches said. "If they do, they will receive a time penalty, and in more serious cases disqualification."

Adam Morgan also fell foul of the new system, albeit less severely. The Ciceley Motorsport driver was handed a five-second penalty for what officials described as a "more minor" overboost transgression, dropping him out of the original podium positions.

CLBS is the BTCC's most significant technical governance change in years, automating a process that previously required post-session data review by officials. The system is intended to keep engine boost levels fair and consistent across the grid in real time, removing the margin for an engine mapping advantage to go undetected across a full race distance.

Ingram, who had led every meaningful session across the weekend and was celebrating on the top step of the podium before the exclusion came through, now begins his title defence in damage-control mode. The Excelr8 squad faces a weekend of forensic analysis into why its 2026-specification engine mapping triggered the automated flag at a level the regulators deemed punishable by disqualification rather than a lesser penalty.

For Doble, the promotion is a career-defining moment. The Power Maxed Racing driver had been one of the paddock's most talked-about young charges through the latter half of 2025, and leaves Donington with a full-distance win on his record — even if it did not come at the chequered flag.

Sutton, meanwhile, walked away from the weekend as arguably the biggest net winner: his consistency across all three races leaves him at the sharp end of the championship as the BTCC field heads to its next round with the teams acutely aware that CLBS is watching every lap.

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