Tom Ingram: ‘Keeping in touch key’

Defending champion Tom Ingram insisted he was pleased with his results from the second meeting of the BTCC season at Brand Hatch, with a brace of podium finishes helping him to ‘stay in touch’.

The EXCELR8 driver headed into the second meeting of the year on the back of a double podium at Donington Park, despite admitting that his Bristol Street Motors-backed Hyundai i30 Fastback N didn’t have the outright pace to fight for victory.

Ingram would have to settle for seventh on the grid in qualifying having been unable to match the pace of the front-runners in tricky wet conditions but fought back well on race day – with a solid fifth spot in the opener setting up a push for the podium in race two.

Having rocketed up to second place on the opening lap, Ingram chased Ash Sutton home to finish as runner-up and then – with the soft tyre bolted on – joined Sutton in carving his way through the field in race three to grab third spot and his fourth podium finish in six starts this season.

It means Ingram lies second in the points ahead of the next round at Snetterton.

“Like in the season-opener at Donington Park, we didn’t have the best qualifying but we went about things the right way, did a good job, managed race day pretty well and ended up coming out it quite successfully.

“When you start seventh at Brands Indy, you can usually expect a little bit of chaos but actually, everything ran pretty smoothly from our side. We needed a decent result in the first race to set us up well for the next one and the car felt fantastic, with fifth place putting us in good stead for the remainder of the day.

“I was mindful of having to attack early on in race two before the rear wheel-drive guys brought their tyres up to temperature – that first lap was key to unlocking the podium – and right from the start, I felt like we were properly in the mix. Second was a great result and I was more than happy to settle for that.

“In race three, my engineer Spencer came over the radio with a handful of laps left to tell me that Collard had a penalty and that I needed to just manage the gap to him. A few other drivers had issues, too, so I was lucky to pick up those places, but as ever in the BTCC, you need a bit of luck on your side sometimes – and I’m never going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“I’m not too fussed about championship positions at this stage of the season; it’s more about scoring consistently well and keeping in touch with the top of the table, which is exactly what we’ve done. Most importantly of all, the biggest thing to take away from Brands Hatch is that the Hyundai feels alive again – we’ve got that feeling back, so roll on Snetterton!”