Tom Ingram enjoys a ‘fantastic weekend’ in Scotland

Tom Ingram increased his advantage at the top of the British Touring Car Championship standings at Knockhill in Scotland, resulting in a ‘fantastic weekend’ for the Team Vertu driver.

Ingram went into the weekend ‘wary’ of his chances, but the 2022 champion emerged with an extended 17-point championship lead after a win, podium and fourth-place result.

Despite having the least TOCA Turbo Boost [TTB] of any driver in the field, Ingram managed to qualify in fourth on Saturday, maintaining his record of always making it into the ‘Quick Six’ part of the qualifying session in 2025.

From there, Ingram finished as the top driver on the medium compound tyre in the opening race, trailing only the two soft-tyre shod BMWs of Jake Hill and Charles Rainford, thanks in part to team-mate Senna Proctor handing him the podium place back on the last lap of the race.

Able to fit the faster soft tyre for race two whilst the BMWs in front had to run the medium tyre, Ingram wasted little time getting to the front, passing Hill for the lead at the Taylor’s hairpin on lap three.

Ingram was unchallenged thereafter, claiming his 37^th BTCC win by over seven seconds from chief title rival Ash Sutton.

With only the top six reversed for race three, Ingram enjoyed a tight touring car battle with Sutton but ultimately finished behind his rival in fourth to limit the loss of points to the Ford racer, having more than doubled his points advantage over Sutton by the end of the weekend.

“We were wary going to Knockhill given the nature of the circuit and the TTB situation, but it turned out to be a fantastic weekend,” said Ingram.

“I was really pleased with the job we did in qualifying – we knew we didn’t have the boost to fight for another pole position, especially around such a short lap where it feels like it makes an even bigger difference, so I was delighted to line up fourth on the grid.

“We subsequently went into Sunday with our heads down, aiming to maximise our opportunities and targeting another ‘pointsy’ day.

“Getting the medium tyre out of the way in race one was really important, although I needed to be slightly tactical with regard to how I deployed the limited TTB we had.

“It was also essential to avoid getting caught up in any drama, and the first lap worked out perfectly. I got a good start and was able to build a bit of a gap behind, and then let Senna past to see if he could go and attack the BMWs.

“We hadn’t been expecting to get a podium on the mediums, so huge thanks to Senna for giving up his at the end; he really put the word ‘mate’ in ‘team-mate’, and it worked out well for us both as it afforded him some options when it came to tyre choice for the next one – as a team, I think we pulled a bit of a masterstroke there.

“Race two was absolutely perfect – we couldn’t have asked for any more. The Team Vertu car is honestly on another level this year. I keep saying it, but it’s just such a joy to drive; anything I want it to do, it does and a little bit more besides.

“The key was going on the offensive early on to secure track position. I knew Jake would fight hard – we’ve raced against each other since we were about 15 and have had countless close battles over the years, and we gave each other enough room.

“After taking the lead, it was then about holding station and maintaining something in reserve in case there was a safety car.

“The objective for race three was to keep it clean and try to come away with another strong finish.

“We had a bit of a ding-dong and some wheel-rubbing with Ash, which is always fun, but I think we were both obviously mindful of not wanting to take each other out so it was a little bit a case of managing risk versus reward.

“Ultimately, I made the call to focus on bringing it home as we’re getting towards the business end of the season now and we need to prioritise the bigger picture over individual results.

“Looking to Donington, I see no reason at all why we shouldn’t be as strong there as we were earlier in the year and have been everywhere else since.

“We’ll have minimal boost again in qualifying and race one, but I’d like to think we can have another successful weekend and if we can repeat what we achieved at Knockhill, I’ll be well-chuffed.”