Tom Ingram: “It was hard work to gain a point”

Tom Ingram admitted that his Silverstone weekend had been “a lot of hard work to gain a point” after moving back up to second in the BTCC standings.

The EXCELR8 driver had gone into the weekend sitting fifth in the points but that meant he would carry less additional success ballast on his Hyundai i30 Fastback N than he had in a number of meetings.

Ingram took full advantage as he qualified in second place on the grid for the opening race and took the early leader when Rory Butcher was hampered off the line by oil dropped by a British F4 car.

Butcher reclaimed the lead with a move at Brooklands, leaving Ingram then defending to keep Dan Lloyd’s Vauxhall at bay through to the flag as he picked up second spot.

Race two would see Ingram cross the line in third spot behind Butcher and Josh Cook after a solid driver with extra weight, with Cook’s exclusion for failing the post-race ride height test promoting him back up into second spot.

The reverse grid final race however would prove to be more of a challenge, with Ingram battling hard to take twelfth spot.

The downside for Ingram was that points leader Ash Sutton – who he had outscored in the first two races – was able to bring his car home in third spot, meaning that Ingram would only take a single point out of the Laser Tools Racing man across the weekend as a whole.

He will also now carry second place ballast once again when the series heads for Donington Park next month.

“The Hyundai definitely felt better for carrying a bit less ballast and starting second significantly increased our chances of getting a good result out of races one and two,” he said. “I was happy with race one and considering the weight we did have in the car, our pace was pretty good. Rory was mega quick all weekend, so I focussed on holding onto second place and scoring as many points as possible.

“The fight with Josh in was a lot of fun and it was enjoyable to be battling wheel-to-wheel. That’s what touring car racing is all about – door-to-door contact and trading paint. We lacked a little bit of pace compared to the two guys ahead, but I was still fairly pleased with the result.

“Race three was tough when the reverse grid is larger, as it means you are up against cars that are carrying no ballast so we just had to get what we could, and it was a shame that Ash was able to get onto the podium when we’d been able to take good points out of him in the first two races to bring the gap down.

“It felt like a lot of hard work to take just one point out of the championship lead, but we will keep on pushing right to the end as isn’t over yet by a long shot…”