Points leader Tom Ingram was “concerned” about pace

Championship leader Tom Ingram admitted that Speedworks had taken a step into the unknown going into BTCC qualifying at Thruxton after a tough run during practice.

Ingram was outside the top ten in both free practice sessions as the team struggled to get the best from his Toyota Avensis, but then came good in qualifying to vault himself up towards the front of the order.

In the end, Ingram would prove to be the quickest of the non-Honda drivers with the fourth quickest time, leaving him well positioned for race day as he seeks to defend his championship lead.

“We genuinely didn’t have any more than we showed in practice; that was what we had,” he said. “There was a lot of head scratching afterwards and we made a lot of changes to the car ahead of qualifying.

“The boys did a top job but it was a step into the unknown for qualifying and I had to just trust that the car would be quick. Luckily it was, and we secured a place near the front.”

Having taken to the track at the circuit recently during official testing, Ingram said he felt confident that the Toyota would be strong on Sunday as he seeks to maintain his impressive start to the season.

“After testing we knew we had a good race car,” he said, “and we just needed to sort our one lap pace. Now we have managed to do that, we can see what race day throws our way.

“It will be interesting to see what Gordon [Shedden] does with the weight onboard and whilst we know we can’t really race with the guys who are running light, we are in the mix.”