Local circuit to Speedworks Motorsport, Oulton Park saw the team and their driver Tom Ingram attempt to keep their places near the top of the Dunlop British Touring Car Championship.
Carrying 57kg of success ballast meant the task wasn’t going to be easy for the twenty-four year old. However, with some gutsy calculated drives amongst the pack, Tom managed to do better than was expected considering the circumstances.
Qualifying seventeenth, Tom was to find it difficult to overtake around the narrow Cheshire circuit. Just being edged out by Ollie Jackson at the finish line to take fifteenth place and the final championship point in race one.
With ballast removed for race two, a speedy Ingram took no hesitation to gain some ground on the opening lap. Heading to tenth place overall, Tom managed to set the fastest lap of the race highlighting the potential of his Toyota Avensis.
In race three, overtaking manoeuvres on Matt Neal, Tom Chilton and James Cole meant that Tom worked his way towards a solid sixth place finish and another clutch of championship points that may be crucial come the end of the year.
Heading to Croft next time out, Tom lies fourth in the overall drivers title and six points off the top of the independents title too. Speedworks also remain near the top of their respective tables, seventh in the teams and fourth in the independents.
“At least it was much better than last year!” Referred Tom to a nightmare weekend at the circuit in 2o17
“The positive is that we moved forward in all three races. We snatched a point in race one even with the weight, and in race two, the Avensis truly came alive on the soft tyres.
“We had a lot of pace – as the fastest lap proved – but being stuck in a traffic jam like we were, there was nothing we could really do with it. Our goal was to get into the top 12 to give ourselves a chance in the reversed grid draw, and we successfully achieved that.”
Looking ahead to Croft. Tom said, “Ultimately, we salvaged as much as we could from the weekend and we didn’t lose out too much points-wise.
“We’re still right up there and will carry a bit less weight with us to Croft, which is a circuit I love. I’m confident we’ll be in good shape, so let’s see if we can claw back some ground.”
