Tom Ingram admits that he was surprised to qualify inside the top six at Knockhill, with the Speedworks Motorsport driver just three tenths from pole despite carrying 66 kg of success ballast.
Ingram ended up as the third-best front-wheel drive runner after putting his Toyota on the third row of the grid for race one, with the 25-year-old just two places behind title rival Colin Turkington.
The result came after Ingram had earlier been just 16th quickest in second practice heading into the qualifying session.
His qualifying pace, at a circuit where he has only once previously taken a podium after scoring victory in the reverse grid race last year, surprised Ingram, who expected to be much lower down the pecking order.
“I’m really pleased as I didn’t think we’d be in the top fifteen, let alone the top six,” said Ingram to TouringCars.Net. “With the weight that we’re carrying, and considering that we’ve got front-wheel drive, I thought that we’d struggle more than we did.
“We did the best job possible. There’s always a bit more that you can extract, but the amount of time that we found between second practice and qualifying was really good.”
Ingram is, however, wary of the threat from behind, with Subaru’s Ash Sutton immediately behind him on the grid and seeking to further close down the 28-point gap currently between the duo in the championship standings.
“Sixth place puts us in the mix of being close to Colin and to Ash to try and minimise the loss of this weekend.
“Ash is in a good car that suits the circuit as well, so we expected him to be well up there. But for this weekend I’m trying to focus on what we’re doing whilst keeping an eye on what these lads are up to.
“We can’t control the pace of those guys, so we can only do what we can do. I’m mindful of the fast-starting Subaru and of Ash’s pace at the start.
“With the weather which is forecast for tomorrow, it’s going to really suit him as well, so Ash is going to be really quick this weekend. But there’s no point worrying about it as we can only do what we can do.
“We have to make sure we have minimal risk, stay out of trouble and not throw it off or do silly things.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be a really, really boring day tomorrow where we just finish, stay out of trouble and score some points.”