“Relaxed” Tom Ingram ready for fun finale

Tom Ingram insists that his focus on race day at Brands Hatch is on “having run” having qualified on pole for the BTCC season finale.

Ingram put his Toyota Corolla on top of the pile in a hard fought qualifying session that saw the top four drivers covered by less than a tenth of a second.

It marked the second time that the Speedworks driver has qualified on pole this season, although he was later stripped of the pole he secured at Croft after failing the ride height test.

Currently fourth in the standings, Ingram will need to overturn a deficit of more than 30 points if he is to secure the title for the first time and insisted that he was simply looking to have run on race day and not thinking about the championship.

“I feel really relaxed this weekend – I’ve never felt more chilled coming in to a BTCC meeting,” he said. “We can only do our best this weekend, and if it is enough then it is enough. I could win all three races and if Ash, Colin or Dan are there on the podium then it still wouldn’t be enough so I can just do the best job possible. I don’t even know where the others qualified and i am just going to focus on us and am going out there to have fun.

“The conditions have been difficult today but I really enjoy them when it is that in between where it isn’t wet or dry. The car feels alive and it is seat of the pants stuff. The car felt good in the wet at Croft where we took pole and then lost it with the wishbone issue, so the two wet sessions are where we’ve been on pole.

“I feel in a good place and tomorrow I’ll go out to enjoy it. Three wins would be nice, but lets see what happens…”