Tom Ingram not focusing on points situation despite healthy championship lead

Tom Ingram has admitted he’s not focusing on the points situation at this stage in the British Touring Car Championship season despite leaving Croft with a 21-point advantage over his nearest challenger.

Returning from the series’ annual summer break at a sun-kissed North Yorkshire circuit, the EXCLER8 Motorsport driver enjoyed a superb race day as he claimed a brace of podium finishes.

Those results, in addition to some bad luck blighting his championship rivals, means the Hyundai driver now holds a comfortable lead out front as the UK’s premier motorsport series prepares to head north of the border to Knockhill.

Ingram had qualified on the second row at Croft and wasted no time in jumping up to second in race one on the soft tyre. Running the harder compound in race two, the 2022 champion held on to finish fourth before he concluded his day with a charge to third.

“I think this weekend has gone better than I expected it to in terms of the points, and it shows how strong our car is,” said Ingram. “I don’t think we have maybe extracted enough from it at every weekend so far, and that’s because the performance here has been staggering.

“Every time we bolt a tyre on, soft or hard, it’s been great, and it has been beyond a joy to drive. We could maybe have done with a little more performance on the hard tyre in race two, but we’ve been able to get the big points we needed.

“I’m happy all round, particularly when you consider how our rivals have performed. Jake didn’t have the best of times in qualifying and Ash had ground to make up, so it was nice to get some headway in the points but I’m not too fussed at the moment where we are.

“I’m just ticking the weekends off and am focused on us doing the best job we can – and that is the way we’ll keep working.”