Ingram closes in on unprecedented title treble (From Bucks Free Press)

Ingram and Goff move through the gears

10:11am Tuesday 25th September 2012 in Sport By Alan Feldberg

TOM INGRAM issued a chilling warning to his rivals this week as he won twice in two days to ignite hopes of a hat-trick of Ginetta Cup titles this season.

The 19-year-old cut the gap at the top of the Ginetta 50 Championship to 44 points with two checkered flags at Rockingham at the weekend and then said: “This isn’t over yet.”

Ingram’s hopes looked dashed after car failure last time out left him stranded in the middle of the Knockhill track.

He was was then smashed into by cars doing 95mph and had to be airlifted to hospital with serious leg injuries.

But far from throwing in the towel, the Wycombe driver hobbled back into the cockpit last weekend to win both races and bring what would be an unprecedented Ginetta title treble within reach.

He said: “I wanted to come back and show the accident hadn’t affected me – I had a point to prove, I guess.

“The car felt phenomenal, for which I owe a huge thank you to everybody at JHR Developments. It was no mean feat to put it back together again because it had been left really beaten up at Knockhill. It was a pretty amazing effort.”

Ingram began the weekend 77 points adrift of Championship leader Carl Breeze, but his two victories have sliced that to 44 points with 182 points still on offer.

He said: “The victories at Rockingham were amongst the most satisfying I’ve ever achieved as we had to work so hard for them.

“It was one of the best weekends of my career. I don’t think anybody really expected us to come back and win straightaway, but we put a lot of those doubts to bed.

“Knockhill is just a distant memory. We’re still in contention – this isn’t over yet.”

Ingram’s renewed confidence is well-founded. The penultimate round of races take place at Silverstone, scene of similarly dominant double two years ago, before the championship concludes at Brands Hatch.

The teenager has some good memories from Kent too, having clinched both previous Ginetta Championships there.

And he’ll go there with plenty of confidence after his recent form.

He set three consecutive fastest laps at Knockhill to convert pole position for race one into a victory, and another mature drive a day later put him on top of the podium again.

Silverstone takes place the weekend of October 6, with the championship concluding at Brands Hatch a fortnight later.

Meanwhile, Stokenchurch-based Jack Goff is still leading the Air Asia Clio Cup after two second places at Rockingham.

He was leading race until the final moments, before handling the wet superbly to claim another podium finish.