Jack Goff and Tom Ingram have both accepted that their clash in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Oulton Park was just a ‘racing incident’ which saw neither driver pick up points.
Goff and Ingram were battling for position approaching the Hislops chicane when the Eurotech Racing driver made contact with the right-rear corner of Ingram’s Toyota, sending him spinning into the infield.
The duo dropped down the order as a result of the contact, with Goff in 26th and Ingram in 28th at the end of the opening lap.
Ingram eventually retired from the race when his suspension gave in on lap 13, whilst Goff came home in a point-less 21st place.
It later emerged that Ingram had failed to see Goff as a result of his wing mirror having been folded in at the Island hairpin earlier in the lap, resulting in the Speedworks Motorsport driver being unsighted to Goff’s intentions.
“My mirror got folded in on the first lap coming into the hairpin, so I couldn’t see where Jack was and Jack has assumed that I could see where he was,” explained Ingram to TouringCars.Net.
“The trouble with that corner is that ideally we both need to be fully wheel-to-wheel alongside to make a move work. Unless you’re fully alongside, the move’s not really going to stick anyway, so it’s a bit on both of us. I couldn’t see, Jack wasn’t fully alongside, so it’s one of those racing incidents.”
Goff accepted that Ingram couldn’t see him coming, and the duo accepted that neither were to blame for the incident.
“I’ve only just found out, but Tom’s mirror was folded in from the hairpin,” said Goff. “I got down the inside of Tom and he couldn’t see me so he closed the gap that I was in and contact happened.
“We both didn’t want that to happen, but when your wing mirrors are folded in in these cars you’re sat so far back it’s very difficult to see anything.
“It’s what you call a racing incident – you’ve just got to dust yourselves off and go again.”