Tom Ingram targets ‘pointsy’ race day after tough qualifying

Tom Ingram says he hopes to be able to fight for strong points on race day despite only managing seventh on the grid for the latest rounds of the BTCC season.

Ingram had paced free practice in his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai, but struggled to extract the maximum from what would prove to be a tricky session.

The defending champion had gone purple in the first sector of his opening run before a high speed spin at Barcroft, and then saw his bid for a quick run hampered by Daryl DeLeon’s red flag.

A late improvement saw him secure a place on the fourth row of the grid, with Ingram still hopeful of pushing for a ‘pointsy’ race day.

“I had a massive moment and I went so far off-track down the escape road at Sunny that I was almost back at my hotel,” he said. “It was a difficult session and we had a few problems trying to get the lap in. I had to abort the first run with the spin and then the second lap was a banker, and then there was the red flag.

“However, we have a good race car and we just have to crack on with it. Some rain might work in our favour to spice things up a bit but if we can stay out of trouble, we can have a ‘pointsy’ day.”