Tom Ingram surprised by status quo in standings

Tom Ingram admits he was surprised to come away from the Croft weekend in the same position points wise as was in going into the BTCC season’s sixth meeting.

The defending champion had closed to within six points of Ash Sutton in the final event before the summer break at Oulton Park, but was firmly on the back foot after qualifying – with Sutton third on the grid as part of a NAPA Racing 1-2-3 and Ingram back in seventh after a high-speed spin on the run to Sunny.

Although he made up places in the opening two races in his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai, Ingram saw Sutton extend his advantage at the front with a seventh win of the campaign.

However, for the second meeting in a row, Sutton would fail to make it to the end of lap one in the final race of the weekend allowing Ingram to regain ground in the points as he took second behind Colin Turkington.

It means Ingram remains six points behind Sutton ahead of the next event at Knockhill.

“The race three podium was a great way to finish off what had been a pretty average weekend for us,” he said. “With qualifying being as important as it is, the spin we had there put us on the back foot a bit but did a good job as a team to pull it back on race day and make up ground in each of the races.

“I don’t quite understand how we’re still only six points behind Ash in the standings and it doesn’t really make sense with the way things had been going until the final race. Ash retiring there really turned everything on its head, and it just shows how important it is to be consistent and get the best from a weekend like this when it isn’t quite going your way.

“Like others, we haven’t quite had to pace to take the fight to the Fords on track this weekend but we’ve stayed in touch. and we know we need to unlock more performance with the car in the races to come – starting with Knockhill.”