Tom Ingram maintained his outstanding start to his Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) career in the second outing of the 2014 campaign at Donington Park, as he ‘sharpened his elbows’ to snare another brace of points-scoring finishes and move up into the top ten in the drivers’ standings.
Having clinched three car racing crowns in just five years in supporting Ginetta championships, Ingram stunned on his BTCC debut at Brands Hatch, appearing immediately at home amongst such illustrious company as he qualified his Hughes-backed Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Avensis a jaw-dropping sixth and went on to tally top ten finishes in each of his first two races.
The talented young High Wycombe ace consequently headed to Donington in optimistic mood, and impressed again in qualifying by lining up 12th in the 31-strong field in what is commonly regarded as the world’s premier and most fiercely-contested tin-top series. The heavens then opened the following day in time for the three ITV4 live-televised races, the first of which took place on a damp-but-drying track.
Sagely steering clear of the early chaos, Ingram sliced incisively up the inside of former double champion Alain Menu for 11th place beginning lap two, before chasing down and passing hometown rival Jack Goff to climb into the top ten.
In the midst of a frenetic, no-holds-barred scrap over seventh position, the SKYCIG and Hansford Sensors-supported KX Akademy graduate enthusiastically got stuck in as he settles into life as a touring car driver, finding himself needing to attack and defend all at the same time. After losing out to ex-British F3 Champion Marc Hynes and Dave Newsham at the start of the last lap, Ingram brilliantly got the cut-back on both on the exit of Redgate Corner to reclaim tenth place and a very well-deserved points finish.
Race two was a considerably wetter affair, with rooster-tails of spray rendering visibility practically non-existent. Wheelspin when the lights went out cost the 20-year-old British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) SuperStar and MSA Academy member several places, but he boldly and swiftly regained them by ‘swallowing some brave pills’ and going all the way around the outside of the Craner Curves, proving that commitment clearly isn’t an issue.
With cars flying off the track left, right and centre in the treacherous conditions, Ingram maturely kept his composure to add a second consecutive tenth-placed finish to his slate. He was again running well inside the top ten in race three when Fabrizio Giovanardi lost control behind the safety car and sent Árón Smith torpedoing into the side of the #80 Avensis, dropping him to 16th.
A subsequent clash with Rob Austin as he fought to regain 11th place resulted in post-race exclusion, but as he looked back on the weekend as a whole, the BTCC’s leading rookie reflected that having had the raw speed but lacked some touring car experience and racecraft at Brands Hatch, at Donington, he truly earned his championship spurs.
“Donington is a circuit I’ve always enjoyed and one where I’ve achieved good results in the past, and following our encouraging pace there at the pre-season media day and our form at Brands Hatch, I knew we were in decent shape to put on a good show,” Ingram affirmed.
“I don’t think anybody had expected us to be as fast as we were in qualifying at Brands, and I progressed a lot there in terms of my understanding of both the car and the championship. The BTCC is a tremendous step-up from anything I’ve done before; it’s pretty full-on and you never really get much opportunity to breathe, so carefully managing your time with all the off-track media and sponsorship activities and so forth is key.
“Qualifying at Brands certainly raised the bar and raised expectations – not to mention pressure – and it was always going to be difficult to replicate that at Donington, but we were still reasonably pleased with 12th. It was a solid position to start from in such a massively competitive field, and it left us well in the ballpark.
“I think the races demonstrated what I had learned from Brands; you need to properly get your elbows sharpened in touring cars, be ultra-aware of your surroundings and take absolutely no prisoners – and I had a lot more confidence to attack and go for moves at Donington. There was so much going on all the time – to say it was cut-and-thrust would be putting it mildly! You couldn’t take your eye off the ball for even a split-second, because if you left just the tiniest of gaps, somebody would fill it.
“The weather was tricky, making it a battle all of its own simply to stay on the track. What happened in the final race was a shame – it felt like a constant fightback, and the truth was, we should never have been down the order like we were had it not been for being harpooned behind the safety car – but overall, I’m very happy.
“To have bagged another couple of top ten finishes shows the Avensis is a contender in all conditions and that we’ve got the pace to run up towards the front of the field with the big-hitters. I’m gaining in experience all the time, and I’m having so much fun I can’t even begin to describe it. What a fantastic start to my BTCC career!”
