Tom Ingram: “It was important to get that victory”

Tom Ingram admitted it was important to get a first win of the season in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch this past weekend.

The reigning champion had endured a somewhat rollercoaster start to the season with his front-running pace not yielding the results he perhaps would have hoped for, and it had looked as though that would continue at the Kent circuit.

After losing out in the Qualifying Race, despite starting from pole, the Hyundai driver found himself in the thick of the action on race day, with the opening encounter seeing him battle his way forward to third.

Race two saw the EXCELER8 Motorsport driver then notch a fourth place finish in challenging conditions before then claiming a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the reverse grid finale.

That result has meant that Ingram has climbed to second in the Drivers’ Championship, although he sits 47 points early pace-setter and long-time rival, Ash Sutton.

“For a while it looked like it was going to be another weekend where nothing went our way, but we managed to recover it with the victory in race three,” said the two-time title winner.

“It’s not been a stellar, amazing meeting for us in terms of points but we’ve done okay, and it was important to get that victory as circumstances have conspired against a little until then.

“We’ve not had the rub of the green a lot in the opening rounds and even in that final race, I made a mega start but then got boxed in going up to turn one and it looked like Ash was going to be able to sail around the outside and take advantage.

“However, one thing that isn’t in doubt is the pace we have in the car and clearly we’re fast, which we were able to show in getting to the front and then controlling things from the front.

“It’s still early in the season and there’s a long way to go, so we’ve got to keep our heads and make sure we’re in the right place at the right time going forward to capitalise on the speed we have.”