Tom Ingram relieved to salvage second after time penalty

Tom Ingram admitted he was relieved to have salvaged second place in the first-ever British Touring Car Championship Qualifying Race after being handed a five-second time penalty for a false start.

The two-time reigning champion charged to pole position for the 13-lap contest and held the lead as the lights went out, albeit he came under immense pressure from Ash Sutton on the opening lap.

When an incident for Sutton beached his Ford Focus in the Redgate gravel trap, Ingram had the opportunity to break clear from the chasing pack, and he needed to after officials penalised him for starting out of position.

Needing to open a gap of more than five seconds, the Hyundai driver put the hammer down in the latter stages and on corrected times, he finished 0.024s ahead of second place driver Rowbottom.

The result means he starts the opening race of the season tomorrow on the outside of the front row.

“It was very difficult but we managed to salvage second,” said Ingram. “It was our mess up at the start. Getting the tape placement on a packed grid is always challenging and things didn’t quite align in the end.

“I knew pretty early on what I had to do and we almost pulled it off. The car felt great and we head into tomorrow in a strong place.”