Tom Ingram vows maximum attack

Tom Ingram insists that he will do all he can to defend his BTCC title despite seeing Ash Sutton slightly extend his lead at he head of the standings at Silverstone.

Ingram went into the weekend sitting 42 points down on Sutton at the top, although the pace shown by his Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai at Donington Park meant hopes were high of eating into that advantage.

Qualifying saw Ingram beat Sutton on the times but rain before the start of race one led to a decision over which way to go with tyres. Ingram, and Sutton, both stuck with slicks but as the rain got heavier, the pair would be forced to pit and ended up outside the top 20.

Despite losing ground on the opening lap when he was almost wiped out by Jack Butel at Brooklands, Ingram would charge through the field to score a fine third place finish, although he would lose ground to Sutton as the Ford man grabbed victory.

Even with a power steering issue late on, Ingram would go from tenth to second in the reverse grid race to claw back some points and is now the only person who can stop Sutton in the title race with three races left.

“To qualify third, finish 22nd in race one and then end up on the podium in races two and three isn’t the right way round to do it, but I’ll take it! We showed great pace again and generally outperformed Ash, but unfortunately the points don’t reflect that.

“We made the wrong call in race one but race two on the other hand was brilliant. The car felt fantastic – absolutely alive – and it was a case of ‘put the headlights on, we’re coming through’! I love races like that – it was just so much fun and the adrenaline was really coursing through my veins. To finish on the podium was great, and it was a similar story in race three.
 
“When you’re staring down the barrel of a pretty dismal day like we were after race one, that’s when you have to really focus on the bigger picture. It takes a bit of mental resilience to dig deep and know that it can come back to you – you can never give up in this game, and I’m very pleased with our results.

“Now we need to go all-in and maximum attack at Brands Hatch. The points gap is fairly significant which means we’ll require a slice of luck, but there’s still a lot to play for and anything can happen so we’ll keep fighting to the end.

“The pressure is on Ash, not us – we’ve proved he’s beatable, and it’s his to lose…”