Our words and pics as Speedworks grab another podium at Thruxton…
Tom Ingram found himself on the podium for the third meeting in succession as he climbed on to the third step of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship podium, in Race 1 at Thruxton.
Despite losing their first two fastest laps for not respecting track limits, Bredbury based Speedworks Motorsport found themselves on Pole position for the second time in 2016, Tom Ingram claiming the front slot whilst also smashing the previous Qualifying record with a 1min 16.161secs around the Hampshire track, just three-hundredths of a second faster than the Mercedes of Aiden Moffat.
“I wasn’t expecting that” declared Tom about setting the Qualifying lap record. “Really, really pleased. To come out on top I’m very pleased with. From inside the cockpit it was fairly fraught, it came over the radio that I’d gone second [quickest], then you’ve had your fastest laps taken off you, it was constantly a battle of going quickest. The pressure was certainly on, we knew we had the pace to be quickest anyway, you never really know where everyone is in Free Practice, that’s the first Qualifying session of the year that we’ve been able to say ‘no excuses’ [with track conditions].
Race day saw a bumper crowd basking in the Hampshire sunshine, and Race 1 certainly kept up the heat, as a feisty encounter had Tom down as low fifth place, but battled back to the second podium step as the Race was ended prematurely as a multi-car accident on the pit straight, started when Matt Neal’s punctured Honda, and the MG of Josh Cook collided caused the red flags to fly.
“Second place, from what happened on the opening lap, we got bundled into coming up to the Complex” explained Ingram. “To have got it back to second after where we were at the start, I think we can be fairly happy.”
Ingram could only settle for 20th place in the second Race, as the Speedworks racer was adjudged to have jumped the start, and was issued with a pit lane drive-through penalty as a consequence. Whilst a DNF in Race 3 tarnished a day that had begun with so much promise.
Ingram now sits 7th in the Independents Championship as the Series heads to Speedworks’ ‘home’ track at Oulton Park in Cheshire across the weekend of 4/5th June.
Our photos of the BTCC action from Thruxton can be found HERE.