Tingram Goes Close
As defending champion, Tom Ingram headed into the 2023 British Touring Car Championship leading the charge for the BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 team in his quest to secure a second successive title.
Ingram’s first championship had been won in dramatic fashion in the final rounds of the 2022 season at Brands Hatch, and his Hyundai i30 Fastback N arrived at Donington Park for the first meeting of the new season proudly carrying the #1 as part of its dramatic new livery.
Qualifying sixth on the grid for the first race, Ingram emerged from a chaotic opening lap in P3 and would hold station throughout to kick off his title defence with a podium finish.
The decision to start race two on slicks just as rain arrived would prove to be incorrect – resulting in a mid-race pit stop that left him down in ninth – before a second place finish in race three meant Ingram headed away from round one sitting second in the points.
A brace of podium finishes at Brands Hatch Indy during round two allowed Ingram to close to within five points of the championship lead ahead of the trip to Snetterton for round three; the home circuit for the EXCELR8 team.
Despite battling illness all weekend, Ingram made the most of his tyre strategy to set up an impressive charge from seventh to first in the final race to bag his first victory of the campaign.
Retaining second spot in the standings as Ash Sutton moved to the top of the pile with a double win, Ingram made it seven podiums from twelve starts at Thruxton as he chased Sutton home to take second in the opening race.
Another pair of top three finishes at Oulton Park, where Sutton suffered a DNF in the final race, left the gap at the top at six points going into the summer break.
After a pace-setting performance in the mid-season tyre test on the Donington Park GP circuit, the season resumed at Croft – with Ingram keeping the pressure on Sutton with his tenth podium of the season.
Although Sutton himself scored a seventh win, he also suffered another DNF to keep the between the pair as it has been going into the event.
Knockhill however would prove to be a pivotal weekend in terms of the season, with Ingram storming to a fine win in wet conditions in the opening race.
However, when his Hyundai failed the ride height test afterwards, he was excluded from the results, and although he would battle back to end the weekend on the podium, Sutton was able to extend his advantage out to 37 points.
From that point on, Ingram was playing catch up in the title race, and would add a second win of the season at Donington Park GP to five further podium finishes across the closing rounds.
That left him with a new personal best for podium finishes in a season, and with more points than he had scored in winning the 2022 title.
It wouldn’t be enough to secure back-to-back championships however, as Sutton wrapped up the title at Brands Hatch with Ingram in second spot.
BTCC 2023:
Starts: 30
Wins: 2
Podiums: 17
Points: 400
Championship: Second
Qualifying Average: 4.3
Laps: 557
Laps Led: 29
Fastest Laps: 5
Places Gained: 94