Tom Ingram reignited his bid for the coveted Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship crown with his third outright victory of 2017 at Knockhill last weekend, hailing an ‘awesome effort’ from Speedworks Motorsport as he stormed away from his pursuers in the quest for Independents’ glory.

Although a self-confessed fan of Knockhill’s rapid rollercoaster ride, Ingram travelled north of the border with some apprehension, given that the tight-and-twisty, undulating Fife circuit has traditionally tended to favour short-wheelbase, rear wheel-drive cars – everything that Speedworks’ Toyota Avensis is not.

After valiantly fending off James Cole’s palpably faster Subaru Levorg for the opening half of race one, Ingram proceeded to take the chequered flag a strong sixth, winding up well clear of the next-best front wheel-drive entrant and making light of the 39kg of success ballast on-board to clinch his sixth Independents’ Trophy win of the campaign.

The 23-year-old subsequently survived a tag from Senna Proctor at the start of race two that sent him fishtailing down the straight, before carnage just behind brought out the red flags. Once the action resumed, Ingram conceded ground to home favourites Gordon Shedden and Dave Newsham, but a dogged defence against three-time champion Matt Neal yielded eighth position – and a starting spot of third for the day’s reversed grid finale.

In a different class to everybody else, Ingram was a staggering nine seconds in front – an eternity in touring car terms – when the safety car was deployed on lap 17 for a stranded car further down the order, instantly reducing his imperious margin to next to nothing.

“What a brilliant weekend.” echoed Ingram. “We honestly didn’t expect that heading to Knockhill, because on paper, it isn’t the kind of track that should have suited us at all. Our primary goal was to lead the front wheel-drive brigade and whilst qualifying turned into something of a lottery in the changeable conditions, I doubt we would have been higher than fifth in any case, so it was a good result from our perspective.

“In race one, I really don’t think we could have got any more out of the car, but we struggled a touch more in race two – the balance wasn’t quite so good, and some drivers got unnecessarily physical, which cost us a couple of places. Still, it was another solid result that left us well in the mix for race three – and that obviously paid off nicely.

“It’s funny; I came on the radio after about five laps and joked, ‘when do you reckon the safety car is going to appear, boys?’ because it’s never that straightforward, is it – and then, of course, we got two of them in swift succession! The Avensis was the best it’s ever been, though – absolutely mint – so even when that did happen, I wasn’t unduly concerned because I knew we had the legs on the guys behind and I managed to gap Gordon straightaway, which gave me a bit of breathing space. 

“It was fantastic to be back on the top step of the podium – it’s been quite a while! Huge credit to everybody at Speedworks – they did me proud and put one hell of a car underneath me. My engineer Geoff was superb on the radio – he let me know everything that was going on, which made my life so much easier – and I cannot thank him, the team and all of our amazing sponsors.”