Tom Ingram keen to minimise losses after “overachieving” in qualifying

Tom Ingram says he is keen to minimise any losses to title rival Colin Turkington in Knockhill’s three races after a strong showing in qualifying for the latest rounds of the BTCC season.

The Speedworks driver put his Toyota Avensis in sixth spot on the grid for the opening race of the weekend which means he will line up directly behind current points leader Turkington, who was fourth quickest in his BMW.

That was higher than Ingram had expected to be considering the ballast onboard his car as a circuit that tends to favour rear-wheel drive, with hopes now high of minimising any potential points loss to Turkington – who Ingram had tipped to score big during the weekend ahead.

“I’m really happy with P6,” he said. “We overachieved in qualifying as I expected a top 15 but the car was mega. We didn’t need to change a lot over the course of Saturday and have ended up in a good place on the grid.

“The wet conditions expected for the races will change how we approach things and open it up a bit more but as long as we get three solid finishes and are close to Colin and Ash [Sutton] then we’ll be okay as what we may lose here, we can gain at Silverstone and Brands Hatch.

“The weather might mix it up a bit but hopefully any points loss to Colin will not be as great as it could have been. We’ll have to wait and see because although Knockhill is great circuit, when it comes to racing it can be horrible because anything can happen and it can really bite, so we need to be careful.”