Tom Ingram admits that he is still ‘on the back foot’ heading to Knockhill for this weekend’s British Touring Car Championship races, with the Excelr8 Motorsport driver still having to carry 66 kg of success ballast for being second in the drivers’ standings.
Although Ingram only managed one points finish last time out at Oulton Park, the Hyundai driver has retained second in the drivers’ championship standings – and suffered minimal points loss to leader Ash Sutton – as his main rivals also suffered at the Cheshire circuit.
Despite that fortune, Ingram has cautioned against being immediately on the pace in Scotland this weekend, as he must still qualify and compete in race one with the second heaviest car on the grid.
“As was the case heading to Oulton Park, we know we are on the back foot a little bit because of the weight we have to carry into the weekend,” said Ingram.
“Knockhill is a circuit I enjoy and is one where I have had success in the past – even when carrying ballast.
“Although we didn’t lose any places in the standings at Oulton Park, we know that we haemorrhaged a lot of points last time out, and we need to try and recover some of those this weekend, although it isn’t going to be easy.”
The 28-year-old has not won at Knockhill since 2017, although he was on the podium last year and he also points to the podium scored for the team last year by Senna Proctor as a reason to be optimistic.
“We have to be realistic, and we can’t go there thinking we’re going to go out and win all three races, but at the same time, we know there is the potential to score some big points as the car will be strong.
“Last season, the Hyundai scored a podium at Knockhill and whilst it is still an i30 Fastback N, the car we have now is much improved.
“The key thing is to stay out of trouble, and then we can try to put as many points on the board as we can, regardless of what the ‘Scottish Grand Prix’ weather throws at us!”