Tom Ingram says he ‘genuinely didn’t expect’ to be capable of scoring a podium in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Croft.
The Speedworks Motorsport racer passed Sam Tordoff’s Ford Focus RS for fourth on the road into Clervaux on the opening lap before dropping back slightly from the lead battle.
He caught BMW Pirtek Racing’s Andrew Jordan swiftly after the latter had been dumped from second by Jason Plato, and a mistake sent the BMW 1-series into the gravel at the first corner, and Ingram onto the final step of the podium.
As a result, he moves up into second overall in the standings, 17 points adrift of leader Colin Turkington.
“I’m really pleased with that; I genuinely didn’t expect to be able to come through, especially with so many rear-wheel drive cars around me,” enthused Ingram.
“I had to remain mindful of where Sam [Tordoff] was to begin with and try to establish a gap, and then with AJ, I think he just missed his braking marker heading into Clervaux and went off – and I nearly followed him!
“That would have been a bit of a schoolboy error on my part. All credit to the team – to finish on the podium with the hard tyre, ballast and at a rear-wheel drive circuit is a great result.”
Race two is set to get underway at 14:45 BST.