Tom Ingram “not getting carried away”

Tom Ingram says he “isn’t getting away” with the results to date for the new Toyota Corolla heading into the third meeting of the BTCC season at Thruxton.

The Speedworks driver secured the first victory for the car in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park last time out and now sits sixth in the championship standings as a result – just twelve points down on leader Ash Sutton.

Despite a strong past record at the fastest circuit on the calendar, and a solid run during testing last month, Ingram admitted he was keeping expectations in check ahead of the race weekend with three solid points finishes being the target.

“Thruxton is a unique circuit – there’s nowhere else like it in the country,” he said. “Going there for the test with a new car was a bit of a step into the unknown, but it went very well, which was encouraging. We were able to work through everything on our list – most of all, it was about trying to get a proper handle on the Corolla through the high-speed sections, which is the key to a good lap time there and I think we’re in a good place.

“With the BTCC going to Thruxton twice this year, it’s even more important to get to grips with everything quickly because there are double the points on offer, but we left feeling quietly confident and will return in the same mindset.

“I’m feeling excited, and the target for the weekend has to be three good, solid points-scoring finishes. We’re close to the top of the table points-wise but not carrying too much ballast, which is a nice position to be in – we’ve learned over the past couple of seasons that leading the championship at this stage can make your life very difficult in qualifying and race one.

“We still have a lot of development to come with the Corolla, and as we have always said, we expect to be much stronger over the second half of the year. To win so early on was really a bonus, but we’re not getting carried away as we are well aware that there remains a big challenge ahead.”