Tom Ingram believes that he can find more pace ahead of qualifying for the British Touring Car Championship at Knockhill, having topped the timesheets in second practice.
The Speedworks Motorsport driver topped the second session with a time just over two tenths faster than WIX Racing’s Adam Morgan, and the Toyota racer was suitably confident after the session, insisting that he knows how to go even quicker.
“I’m really happy, the car was very, very strong and we’ve made a few changes from first free practice,” said Ingram. “It’s the first time we’ve run new tyres because we hadn’t run new ones in FP1, so we’re quite pleased with how FP1 went with the time we did.
“I’m pleased that we’re up at the sharp end of the timesheets, but we’re still the best part of four tenths away from what Andy [Priaulx] did for pole last year, so by no means is that going to be the pace, there’s still going to be a lot more to come in qualifying.
“We’ve got to find a bit more time – by no means was that our true pace, but we’re not in full qualifying mode just yet. There’s definitely more to come and we know exactly where we need to find the time.”
Given the expected pace of the rear-wheel drive cars around the Scottish circuit, Ingram added that his aim in qualifying was to be the best performing front-wheel drive car.
“It can’t not be a good place for the rear-wheel drive cars, as you’ve got the slow speed corners, so they will be quick,” added the 22-year-old. “When you go into compressions and come out of compressions, just the whole characteristics of a rear-wheel drive car responds a lot better so they should be the pace-setters in qualifying, but we’ll certainly be trying our hardest to upset that.
“I think we’ll find that so long as we’re within the cars in our class in terms of front-wheel drive cars, certainly the Motorbase guys and Cicely who are the guys we’re focussing on most, then so long as we can be in the top five I’ll be happy.
“It’s going to be very difficult to overtake here, so we’ve got to make sure we have a good qualifying and we’re well in the mix, but I think pole is going to be a long-shot against the rear-wheel drive guys.
“I can’t see any reason why we can’t stay in the championship fight this weekend.”