Tom Ingram ‘very chuffed’ to achieve front-row start

Joint British Touring Car Championship leader Tom Ingram was ‘very chuffed’ to qualify on the front row of the grid alongside Colin Turkington at Brands Hatch, giving him the early advantage against his title rivals.

Ingram put his Hyundai just 0.036 seconds behind Turkington’s BMW in qualifying on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit on Saturday, despite having the joint-least amount of hybrid boost in the field.

With that latter fact in mind, Ingram was pleased with his efforts, especially as his closest rival Jake Hill could only manage sixth.

“I’m really pleased,” said Ingram to TouringCars.Net. “It’s a fairly tricky one to know where your pace is going to be around here with limited hybrid.

“I’m very chuffed to be on the front row – it’s the second weekend on the bounce at the front, which is a strong place to be. I’m really pleased; it’s been a really good result. The car has felt phenomenal and an absolute pleasure to drive.

“With minimal hybrid, you’re about at the limit – you’re never going to find much more. You’re sneaking hundredths out of it, just nibbling away at it. It’s enjoyable when it’s like that.”

When asked about any potential strategies for race day, Ingram refused to be drawn on approaching the day any differently to normal.

“We’ll see how it plays out. I’m not worried about it. We’ll play our own game and see what happens.

“It’s a normal race weekend isn’t it? You wouldn’t do any other race weekend any different, so there’s no point in changing tactics here. We’ll literally do our own thing.

“There’s potentially a little bit of rain coming in tomorrow afternoon. Who knows. We’ll just stay fairly level-headed. Yes, we’ve had a good result today, but the big points are tomorrow.

“I love this place. I genuinely really enjoy the circuit. It’s a fantastic circuit – it’s great for racing, it’s great for driving, it’s great for spectating. It’s an all-round blazer.

“The car’s obviously working fantastically well – I enjoy it so everything comes together when it’s like that.”