The trip North of the border for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship proved fruitful for the Hughes/Speedworks Motorsport outfit as a trio of top ten results for Tom Ingram put memories of a disappointing Snetterton, in the previous round, well and truly in the past.
It was a tough opening day for the Bredbury based team at the Fife venue as an engine failure in first Free Practice meant Ingram missed FP2 as the team worked tirelessly to replace it. Despite the drama, Tom posted a time just eight-tenths of a second off the fastest qualifying time which, following a grid penalty for Rob Collard [BMW] for a transgression back at Snetterton, gave him 13th on the grid for the opening round of Knockhill’s trio of races. Ingram fought his way round the tight and twisty Scottish venue to climb to a brilliant 7th place in race one, and backed it up with another 7th place in race two on the soft selection of tyre, Tom had run as high as 5th but was overtaken late on by a hard-charging Championship leader Colin Turkington [BMW] and his teammate Rob Collard. The ‘reverse-grid’ race three meant Ingram would start 4th on the grid, and run as high as 3rd overall as the race drew on. If it weren’t for tyre performance dropping off faster than those around him it may have been time for that illusive podium to come to fruition.
Tom finished the race in 9th overall, ahead of former Champions Jason Plato [MG] and Matt Neal [Honda]. “A mega weekend!” Commented Ingram, “three top ten finishes and I could just sniff a podium in that final race. Unfortunately we had massive tyre drop off and I just couldn’t keep it going any longer. Still, to be sitting on the edge of a podium was a great feeling!”
A great points haul has kept Tom 15th in the overall Championship, and keeps him on the edge of the top ten in the Independents Championship, sitting 11th just behind former Championship winner Fabrizio Giovanardi [Ford]. Hughes/Speedworks now sit 9th in the team standings.
Elsewhere there were wins for Matt Neal, Mat Jackson [Ford] and Rob Collard. Both the overall and Idependents series are still led by eBay Motors BMW racer Turkington. The BTCC now heads south for Rockingham in Northamptonshire for rounds 22,23&24 on the 7th September.
Picture Courtesy of Jakob Ebrey Photography