Tom Ingram hails a good day’s work after topping Donington test

Speedworks Motorsport’s Tom Ingram declared himself happy with his day’s work at Donington Park, ending the day fastest of all when finding a good balance on the car was his main objective.

The 23-year-old’s best time of 1.09.995 was only around half a second slower than Jason Plato’s qualifying record from 2014, despite an outright laptime not being the aim for the day.

Ingram is travelling up to Snetterton tonight for a further day’s testing tomorrow, his final chance to work on the car before the season opener at Brands Hatch.

“It was obviously good to be on top come the end of the day, but we can’t read too much into it,” said Ingram to TouringCarTimes.

“It was just about getting a balance on the car. But it was interesting that the times were so close considering nobody will have been going out and out for a time. I think the top 19 were covered by a second.

“We were going for a balance over a qualifying distance and a race distance. All in all, a good day for us. We’re packing up now and off to Snetterton, we’re testing there tomorrow. Then that’s us done for the season start.”

Assessing the changes made to his Avensis over the winter, Ingram added: “It looks totally different with the facelift and that’s what most people will notice most, but there have been a lot of other things under the skin which have changed fairly significantly, which have made a difference straight away.

“I’m very excited to go into the season now, with aspirations to pick up as many points as we can at every single weekend.”