Since clinching the Ginetta G50 Cup crown at Brands Hatch in October, it has been a whirlwind of celebrations and awards ceremonies for talented young High Wycombe motorsport star Tom Ingram, but now, he insists, all efforts are firmly focussed on 2012 – and on making it three car racing titles in swift succession.
By any standards, 2011 has been a monumental year for Tom, beginning with the prestige of being appointed a British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) Rising Star and – ten victories, 18 podiums, 13 fastest laps and seven pole positions later – culminating in a thoroughly well-deserved G50 championship triumph, in front of millions of fans as part of the support bill for the hugely popular and ITV-televised British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
The 18-year-old MSA Academy member even had to rebound from a torrid mid-season run that saw him alarmingly haemorrhage points to his rivals through no fault of his own – but that he successfully got his challenge back on-track is to his immense credit, and has equipped him with a steely resolve looking ahead.
After brilliantly lifting the laurels in the Ginetta Junior Championship in 2010 and Ginetta G50 Cup in 2011, Tom’s next target is to graduate into the headlining Ginetta GT Supercup behind the wheel of a Ginetta G55, the free lease of which is his prize for his G50 glory. Having had the chance to drive the G55 once before, the former British Karting Champion confirms that it is a step forward over the G50 in every area – so all that he needs to do now, is find the rest of the funding required to compete...
“Going into G55s is the logical progression,” he opines. “I want to stay inside the Ginetta family; they’ve always been really good to us, and I enjoy being a Ginetta driver – I feel at home here. It’s a growing company, and I believe it has been very positive for my career being associated with such a well-respected name.
“The Ginetta GT Supercup is the highest-profile championship outside of the BTCC on the TOCA package. I feel it’s the best route to get into touring cars, with plenty of good, close racing and awesome cars that are really fun to drive – and I’ve shown over the past two years what I can do when I have a decent car underneath me.”
Having found himself at a consistent budgetary disadvantage in relation to his adversaries ever since taking the leap from karting into cars back in 2009, Tom concedes that as the stakes are raised another notch again, in order to really hit the ground running next year and do battle for honours right from the outset, he will need to have the necessary finances in-place well before the season gets underway.
Should that be accomplished, however, the Bucks speed demon can take inspiration from the example of Frank Wrathall, who has trodden a similar career path and after prevailing at the highest level in Ginettas in 2010, went on to make his BTCC debut in 2011 and tallied no fewer than four rostrum finishes over a superb second half to the campaign.
“Since leaving karting, we’ve achieved a lot in just three years,” underlines Tom, recently invited to become the new patron of the Mini Max class of Formula Kart Stars, the series in which he triumphed five years ago. “We’ve won two car championships, but I can’t help thinking what more we might have been able to achieve if we’d had just a bit more money to conduct a few more days’ testing.
“The objective now is to make it a hat-trick of titles before moving up into touring cars, which is the ultimate goal. It’s not going to be easy, of course, because the competition is likely to be fierce and I’m well aware that we will need to fight hard – but we’re more than used to that. We’ve had a lot of very promising meetings and discussions since the season finished and everything seems to be moving along – and, most importantly of all, moving in the right direction.”
If you are interested in sponsoring Tom, please e-mail tom@ingram26.fsnet.co.uk
