Tom Ingram has made a final plea to secure the sponsorship he needs to be able to compete in the 2010 Ginetta Junior Championship – after turning heads with an impressive performance and competitive lap times on his maiden try-out in the striking new Ginetta G40 at Silverstone.
Off the back of an eye-catching rookie season in car racing in 2009 that yielded a podium finish and brace of pole positions – despite being forced to miss a third of the campaign due to insufficient budget – Tom is bidding this year to launch an all-out title challenge in the Ginetta Junior closed-top sportscar series, and few doubt that given the opportunity, the highly-rated High Wycombe star can do just that.
In evidence of his potential, the 16-year-old took to the track at Silverstone – the celebrated ‘Home of British Motor Racing’ – to try out the 1.8-litre, 140bhp, 130mph G40 that he hopes to race this season, having kept his hand in over the long winter through an Autosport Young Guns single-seater test and several high-profile charity karting outings. Following an initial shakedown and installation run at Bruntingthorpe Airfield in Leicestershire the previous day, it was straight down to business at Silverstone.
“Bruntingthorpe was all about getting as many miles and laps on the engine and gearbox as possible in the time we had, just to run through everything really,” Tom explained. “We did over 100 laps in total, so it went well – and at Silverstone it was good to get back out testing in the car at a proper race track to be honest! The last time we had been out in a Ginetta was in the final 2009 meeting at Brands Hatch in early October.
“It was the first time I’d had a mechanic fully dedicated just to me, and it was good to have someone who was able to give me a bit of guidance. My dad has been brilliant, but it was just interesting to have someone else there who sees things from a different perspective too.
“The car felt really good – it was all very positive and I really enjoyed driving it. We didn’t get a chance to skim the tyres down to ‘race-spec’; we reckon that lost us about one to one-and-a-half seconds a lap, but we were still pretty close to the ultimate pace, which was good to see. It was all a learning experience really – we were just trying to get as much out of the day as we could.
“The new G40 was immediately a lot better than the old one; you get a lot more feel from the car, and every change you make affects it a lot more – you can tell pretty much straightaway what kind of difference it has made. It goes through the gears a lot quicker, and all-round grip levels are excellent too. You struggle to compare it to the old car to be fair, because it’s just so different.”
Media day for the championship it might have been, but Tom’s purpose was fixed just as much on the very serious business of testing as it was on showboating for the various assembled spectators – evincing his steely determination to succeed. As he weighs up his options amidst interest from a number of teams, however, there remains the very real danger that should adequate funding not be found in time, the former British Karting Champion will not be lining up on the starting grid at all – and with the curtain-raising meeting at Thruxton set for Easter weekend, time is fast running out.
With extended live television coverage on ITV4 and a slot on the support package for the hugely-popular Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship – never mind the carrot of a prize test for BTCC outfit Pirtek Racing for the eventual champion – it would, indeed, be a crying shame were Tom to miss out, and a lost opportunity for any potential sponsors were they not to come on-board.
“The championship looks brilliant this year!” underlined the former Wycombe and Marlow Sports Personality of the Year. “The interest generated by the new car alone has been incredible, and a lot of big teams have come in off the back of that. The car just looks a lot sharper than the old one, and the whole championship seems to have taken a step up in terms of professionalism too. There’s nothing else comparable at this level in terms of exposure and what sponsors can get out of it.
“I’ve got a year under my belt now of learning about standing starts and everything else, and getting used to all the circuits – so I’m going to go into this season without doubt a stronger driver. There’s only one goal, and that’s the title. The Pirtek opportunity is once-in-a-lifetime, and to win that would be awesome! To say I’ve tested a touring car at the age of 17 would be quite special – and it’s definitely something to aspire to.”
Tom certainly received a ‘glowing report’ from Nick Dudfield, the man who ran the Conway House-backed ace at Silverstone and team principal of Porsche Carrera Cup GB squad In2Racing. Having started out in not altogether dissimilar circumstances, the ex-racer – a former British Karting Champion himself – palpably discerned in his young charge a great deal of promise and potential.
“It was the first time I had really met Tom,” Dudfield remarked. “From somebody who has had the pleasure of working with some pretty good drivers, my first impression of Tom is that he has potential and a lovely family – and working with people you can relate to and get on with always helps!
“He’s done everything off his own back and through family effort. Having been there myself, and having not had a great pot of family money or sponsors behind me, I can see that he is deeply conscious that he can’t afford to go out there and ruin the car, because they are costs you know you can’t afford to repair. I sympathise greatly with his position and would love to assist Tom if I can.
“It was a good day at Silverstone, and I sense that with the right guidance and a bit of nurturing, he has got a good chance of doing very well. From just the first instance of working with him, he clearly has a very natural speed. From my point-of-view in having sat on the pit wall for many years, watching Tom at Silverstone I could see he was carrying a significant amount of speed into the first corner in comparison with a lot of the other drivers out there – so commitment clearly isn’t an issue.
“I’m full of enthusiasm to try to support him and help him along, and we would definitely like to help him move forward. We are looking to expand our footprint within the TOCA package with the right individual. We’re looking for opportunities to work with new people and generate some new blood – and working with Tom was refreshing. I would certainly give him a glowing report.
“The new G40 for me ticks all the boxes of what the old G40 should have been about – and it has all the ingredients to be a good step forward. Tom just wants to go out there and get on with it, which is great! There are already some big egos even at that level, too – so it would be incredibly good if we could get him up the front and kicking some a**e!”
If you are interested in backing Tom, please contact him on 07817 883469 or at tom@ingram26.fsnet.co.uk
