Toyota Gazoo Racing UK’s Tom Ingram admitted he was happy to settle for a solid points haul in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone despite initially getting past Dan Cammish before having to give the position back.
The 2018 runner-up again enjoyed a better start than polesitter Cammish but the latter covered off the inside line heading into Copse for the first time, before soaking up pressure from the Toyota Corolla for the opening laps.
On lap five the safety car was then called for a collision between Michael Crees’ Honda and James Gornall’s Audi, at the same time as Ingram was attacking Cammish for the lead out of Luffield.
With nothing to separate the pair across the timing line, Ingram completed the move into Copse but would be forced to give the lead back to Cammish before the race resumed again.
Once the field went back to green flag conditions, Ingram again pressurised Cammish but ultimately would settle for second with the gap at a second across the line, a result Ingram told ITV post-race that he was “very pleased” with.
“I said to David [Addison] before the start of the race on the warm-up lap, ‘yes I want to win, of course, I’d like to win, but at the same time I’ve got to be wary that I’m after points and points make prizes’,” said Ingram.
“So I had to be wary of that. At the start, I had a little bit of a better launch than Dan [Cammish] and we were elbows out on the first lap, but then we had the safety car and I managed to get the move done.
“As I was coming down the back straight, Spenny [Aldridge] came on the radio to say there was a Safety Car out that lap. So I thought bingo – I know Dan will have got the same call, so I’ll launch an attack when Dan isn’t expecting it, and it worked perfectly.
“I thought I was ahead at the line but obviously the timekeepers had a look at it and said it was the other way around. But a great result nonetheless, a great result for Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters so I’m very pleased.”
The second British Touring Car Championship race of the day is scheduled to get underway at 14:47 BST.