Tom Ingram: ‘We needed a good result’

Tom Ingram has had an impressive, consistent start to the 2023 season that has been “fairly reasonable actually”. Making it four podiums out of six races and worst finish of eighth there is plenty to be happy about for the EXCELR8 team.

Despite not having a win so far in 2023 Ingram finds himself second in the standings five points away from leader Dan Cammish. The reigning champion also finds himself ahead of three race winners in the standings and is happy with the teams performance.

“Yeah, fairly reasonable actually. I think we had the potential of struggling after Saturday, so it was quite good to get a result out of it when potentially we were going to struggle to pull a result.

“Especially after Saturday night when we were a little on the back foot. So in that sense it was quite difficult, but good to get it done, good to get a good result this weekend because we needed it.

“Nice to be back in the mix because again after Donington. I think we were starting to, not be worried but just be a little wary that maybe we didn’t have the performance that we were after. So yeah, pleased to have come into this weekend and performed well. Saturday difficult but today I think we’ve performed well.”

Memories of the same weekend in 2022 were ever present after Ingram called Saturday ‘difficult’ despite still qualifying seventh. The changes they then went on to make overnight were changes that Ingram considered risky.

“Yeah, just a lot of procedural stuff as well in terms of understanding what we needed to do to get the best out of it. We kind of know how to do it but it was just a case of when do we take that risk with that on the chassis performance because it was a risk to change into what we did today.

“We could very easily have rocked up with what we had last year, same setup, but we knew we struggled last year so it was a risk not to just go back to last year and take the risk to go to our 2023 base setup.

“So we were pleased that we did because obviously it worked well for us today. Let’s see how the rest of it plays out now. Obviously Snetterton is going to be an important one for us. Points are outrageously tight at the moment so every point is really counting.”

Being high up in the points is exactly how Ingram wants the season to go ahead. Thinking that it will be consistency that will prove to be pivotal when it comes to the end of the season.

“I think we’ve got to just stay in the mix. It’s going to be another year like last whereby I think consistency is going to be key and not tripping up I think is going to be the most important part.

“It’s going to be very easy to drop the ball on one weekend and lose a chunk of points. So stay in the mix, keep consistent and even if we’re struggling just focus on scoring points, not too worried about the results or trying to chase some silverware. I think it’s important just to stay consistent.”