TOM Ingram has kickstarted his bid to make it a hat-trick of car racing crowns in swift succession with a trio of podiums in the second meeting of the season at Donington Park at the weekend.
After brilliantly clinching the runner-up spoils on his G55 class debut a fortnight ago at Brands Hatch, Tom headed to Donington in confident mood and came away with a ‘phenomenal’ breakthrough Michelin Ginetta GT Supercup triumph.
Once the circuit had dried out from rain, the talented young Bucks speed demon stormed to second on the grid for race one.
From there, his lack of familiarity with the car unfortunately told as a slightly tardy getaway cost Tom a position and left him tucked up behind ultra-experienced former BTCC contender Carl Breeze, who frustrated his every attempt to get past.
It was a similar story in race two, as the 18-year-old BRDC Rising Star and MSA Academy member hounded his quarry all the way to the chequered flag to claim a second consecutive third place.
He said: “It’s very difficult to overtake around Donington, too, because it’s all so fast-and-flowing with no real big braking zones – so any move would have been extremely risky.
“At this stage of the season, we need to be scoring points – and third place is better than trying for second and ending up in the barriers.”
Despite being unable to demonstrate his true speed, Tom’s lap times were nonetheless impressively consistent, and from third on the grid in the last race of the weekend, he would finally get the opportunity to show what he could really do.
“The first lap was key,” said the former Ginetta G50 Champion, Ginetta Junior Champion and British Karting Champion.
“To register my breakthrough victory in the G55 was absolutely phenomenal – I was just ecstatic! To win in only my second race weekend in the car, when everybody else has been testing all winter, I can’t put it into words, to be honest – it’s incredible!”
