Tom Ingram remains firmly in the hunt to reclaim the biggest prize in UK motorsport in 2024 after producing one of the performances of the season in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Donington Park last weekend (24-25 August), scything his way from 19th on the grid up to second at the chequered flag.
Ingram entered the weekend holding a three-point advantage at the top of the table, but his status as championship leader meant he would also have the lowest hybrid deployment in the field for qualifying and race one around the Leicestershire circuit’s famous ‘GP’ layout.
Notwithstanding that handicap, in a wet-but-drying session, the Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS star unleashed a characteristic maximum-commitment effort to secure fifth on the grid amongst the 20 high-calibre contenders, a mere 0.176 seconds adrift of pole position and going quickest of anyone in Q2.
After displacing Mikey Doble from fourth in the curtain-raising contest, Ingram found himself in contact with his Power Maxed Racing rival two corners later, sending him tumbling down the order to 12th. Fired-up by that early setback, the 2022 BTCC champion immediately began fighting back, even grabbing two places in one fell swoop at mid-distance as he despatched Árón Taylor-Smith and Dan Cammish to climb to seventh.
Adam Morgan and former FIA World Touring Car Champion Rob Huff would similarly fall prey to Ingram’s flying Hyundai i30N, as the 31-year-old determinedly reclaimed his starting spot by the time the flag fell to limit the damage as much as he could.
The unpredictable weather then threw another curveball into the equation with a brief rain shower in the build-up to race two, but Ingram made short work of qualifying pace-setter Josh Cook and title rival Jake Hill to rise to third, prior to posting a new fastest lap as he zeroed inexorably in on Ash Sutton and Colin Turkington at the front of the field.
After stealing second from Turkington with a superb pass on the approach to the Melbourne Hairpin on lap five, he was sizing up Sutton – with more available hybrid than the race leader to-boot – and was poised to challenge for a 31st career victory in the country’s premier motorsport series when a stone struck and punctured his radiator, forcing him into retirement due to rising engine temperatures with only three laps left to run.
His EXCELR8 Motorsport crew put in a herculean effort to replace the engine during the short turnaround ahead of the day’s finale, and in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and an enthralled trackside crowd, Ingram went on a charge that brought the fans to their feet. Up to 14th by the end of the first lap, he was onto Hill’s tail by lap three and past him not long after.
Reeling in the battle for the runner-up spoils at a rate of knots, the talented Bucks-born ace got the better of Dan Rowbottom, Morgan, Cook and race one assailant Doble before skilfully relieving Taylor-Smith of second on the penultimate tour with a brilliantly bold move that he initiated at McLeans and completed into The Esses.
Fellow former BTCC title-winner Tim Harvey called it ‘a champion’s drive that will go down in the annals of history as one of the great touring car races’. Allied to the extra point he picked up for setting fastest lap, a race lap record, Ingram’s 11th podium finish of the campaign means he will travel next to Silverstone (21-22 September) – a happy hunting-ground indeed in seasons past – just nine points shy of the summit of the standings and ready to further ramp up his bid for glory.
Tom Ingram, Driver, Team Bristol Street Motors, said: “I enjoy Donington; it’s one of my favourite circuits and the Hyundai historically goes well there, but it was just one of those weekends – I even dropped and smashed my personalised tea mug!
“With limited hybrid, we expected to struggle in qualifying, and it was a tense and busy session with a lot to try to manage, predominantly because we never knew what was coming next – the conditions seemed to change with every lap, which made it extremely tricky.
“We went for what we thought was the safe option on wet tyres in Q1, but that turned out to be very risky as the track dried far more quickly than I think any of us had been anticipating. By then, we were too deep in to back out of it, which made things pretty stressful for a while and we could very easily have been caught out, but thankfully we got through.
“The car felt fantastic, and I was very pleased to ultimately line up fifth on the grid. We had calculated that our hybrid deficit would equate to around four or five tenths-of-a-second per lap around the ‘GP’ circuit, so to be so close on time left us very well-placed.
“Sunday was always going to be a spicy day. It was obviously frustrating to be wiped out so early in race one, but we had fantastic pace and I had a lot of fun fighting my way back through. Race two was looking really strong as well; we were right behind Ash [Sutton] with a decent amount of hybrid left in the bag, and then we had the stone go through the radiator...
“It was vital to stay level-headed after that and keep thinking of the bigger picture, and full credit to every single member of Team Bristol Street Motors for knuckling down to get my car turned around in time for race three – to replace the engine in under an hour was nothing short of phenomenal. I’ve been lucky enough to work with some amazing people over the years, and that truly was one of those moments where everybody pulls together. This team is incredible and they beyond did me proud.
“I was so grateful for their efforts, and my primary objective was to reward them for that hard work. We knew it was going to be a big ask from where we were starting, but we at least had a solid chunk of hybrid so I just got my head down and set about salvaging as much as possible. It was an unbelievable race and the car felt fabulous once again, and I’m so pleased that we recovered so well and got some good points out of it, which is massively important at this stage of the season.
“That one was pretty special, and after such a tough day, I actually felt very emotional at the end. Now though, we turn our focus fully to Silverstone. With the championship battle so tight, we can’t afford to leave any stone unturned – we need to find every single marginal gain we can. There’s still a lot to play for – and a lot to win or lose.”
