Photo: PSP Images

Qualifying costs Tom Ingram dear as lead disappears

Tom Ingram insisted that a below-par qualifying result had ultimately been the key factor in him losing his lead in the BTCC standings at Oulton Park.

The Speedworks driver would endure a weekend to forget at the home circuit for the Toyota team, with just a single point on race day seeing him slip 25 points behind Gordon Shedden in the title race.

Ingram had been left with work to do after qualifying eleventh in his ballast-heavy Avensis and his task was made all the more difficult in race one after a clash with Jack Goff on the opening lap saw him run off track.

Suspension failure would ultimately force him to retire before the finish, with more contact in races two and three also ensuring Ingram failed to break into the top 15.

A bonus point for fastest lap in race three – and the fact he somehow retained the Independents’ points lead – was the only consolation.

“The catalyst for it all was qualifying, and for that I can only blame myself,” he said. “We were well down in the speed traps in all three sectors, and I overdrove in an effort to compensate. The second row of the grid was definitely on the cards, but I didn’t put the lap together and that left us right in the danger zone at the mercy of midfield squabbles and the less experienced drivers further back in the pack, for which we paid the price.

“To set the fastest lap – by quite some margin – in race three proves the pace is in the car and what we could have accomplished had things gone to plan.

“At the same time, that gives us cause for encouragement because the Avensis seems to be working well wherever we go – the team has done an absolutely fantastic job with it – and we were at least handed a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card at Oulton with a few of our main rivals having troubled weekends too.

“Make no mistake, we’ll come back stronger at Croft – ready to fight tooth-and-nail to regain our championship lead!”