TOM Ingram says it was the realisation of a dream after he clinched his third car racing crown in four years at Silverstone last weekend.

Needing just one eighth place finish to take the Ginetta GT Supercup crown, the Wycombe star won both his races to complete a landslide championship victory.

The 20-year-old said: “I don’t think I’d ever been so nervous ahead of the start of a race.

“I could feel my stomach churning as we were sitting waiting for the starting lights to go out. I knew realistically that I only needed to finish eighth, but all along, I’ve been saying I wanted to secure it with a victory – and that’s exactly what we did.

“The weirdest thing for me was when I saw ‘one lap to go’ on my pit board, with the recognition that two years of hard work were finally about to pay off.

“I had butterflies all around the last lap, and after the chequered flag came down, I just turned into a blubbering mess.

“I was overcome, with so many emotions running through me.

“It was the perfect way to win, and wrapping it up at the home of British motor racing’ made it even more special.”

Ingram’s success backs up the G50 and Junior Championships he’s won since progressing from karts three years ago.

He said: “This is by far the best championship I’ve won. We’ve worked so hard for it since the start of last year and wanted it so badly, and I can’t describe how it felt to get it in the bag – especially four races early.

“It was incredible. All the people I wanted to have around me were there, and it was just amazing – the realisation of a dream.

“As people know, we’ve never been in the fortunate situation of being able to rely upon family money, and I can’t thank my sponsors – especially SKYCIG, KX and Hansford Sensors – enough, because without their unstinting support, we simply wouldn’t have been out there racing. I can never repay the faith they have shown in me.”

Ingram began the weekend well by nailing down his fifth pole position and that translated to his tenth race win of the campaign.

His record-equalling 11th followed a day later as he continued his striking record of finishing on the podium in every race since the opening round in March.

Ingram’s KX Akademy mentor Jason Plato said: “Tom has done a fantastic job this year. He has put together a championship campaign the like of which you very rarely see in this game.

“To win it in the manner that he has is very difficult to do – and all the more impressive for it. It will stay with Tom for quite some time – deservedly so.”

The season concludes at Brands Hatch in two weeks.