Tom Ingram was ‘more than happy’ with qualifying in fifth for the first British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill, ending up as the leading front-wheel drive entrant in a fast-paced session.
Ingram put his Toyota Avensis in fifth for Sunday’s first race in Scotland after he put in a well-timed lap late in the session on a drying and ever-improving circuit.
The Speedworks driver was quick to not take all of the credit for his performance, which he put down to luck and support from his team in timing his final qualifying run.
“There’s a lot of luck in it,” said Ingram to TouringCars.Net. “It’s just about getting a lap in at the right time.
“Unfortunately when it’s like that you can either make it or lose it. A lot of it is calling it at the right time and things like that.
“You can’t time it – I had a call over the radio saying I had three flying laps. I had two slow laps, so I think I got one good lap in on slicks.
“You can’t even try to think about getting into the right kind of place. You risk yellow flags, and people throwing it off, which would have completely scuppered us.
“I’m very happy – the lads did an awesome job to call it when they did, so full credit to them; they’ve done a really good job. I’m more than happy with fifth place.”
With two Subarus and two BMWs ahead of him on the starting grid, the 23-year-old ended up as the best of the front-wheel drive racers, and he admits that not having to watch his mirrors as much as a result in race one will be a relief.
“We should have the pace on James [Cole] I’d like to think, and the same for Senna [Proctor] and Dave [Newsham] going back, but Gordon [Shedden] is the worry,” added Ingram. “Obviously he’s carrying full weight, so he’s going to be a little bit out of position.
“We’re actually in a really, really strong position, so I’m more than happy with that. It’s good to have the rear-wheel drive guys out of the way and we can take it from there.”