Racing lines: How Tom Ingram is earning his crust in 2021
Ingram has left the Speedworks team after seven seasons
The Ginsters-backed BTCC star tells us why he has switched teams
Typical: no sooner had we named Tom Ingram as our tip for the 2021 British Touring Car Championship title in our new-year predictions than he announced a split with his team of the past seven seasons. “Well, I hope your tip doesn’t change!” he laughs when we catch up with him. “Just because I’m in a different car, it doesn’t change my outlook.”
The 27-year-old from Buckinghamshire had become something of a fixture driving Toyotas for Speedworks in the BTCC but, as he explains, it was time to shake things up. Now he will drive a Hyundai i30 N Fastback for Excelr8 Motorsport (see what they’ve done there?), and he’s certain he will hit the ground at a gallop when the series starts at Thruxton on 8/9 May.
*Baking a new flavour*
“It was a surprise to a lot of people, because I was considered part of the furniture at Speedworks,” Ingram admits. “People never really thought that I would move, which is maybe why I never used to get calls from other teams.”
He says that commercial factors drove the decision, as Speedworks aligns closer with Toyota Gazoo Racing and expands its entry to two cars, neither of which had space for his sponsors – Cornish pasty maker Ginsters and Hansford Sensors, which has backed him for a decade.
“I don’t think either party necessarily wanted to part ways, but unfortunately that’s the way motorsport goes,” says the 16-time BTCC race winner. “It’s a commercial business.
“[Speedworks boss] Christian [Dick] and I never fell out, it was just a case of looking after our own. He has his commercial partners and we have ours, and it has got to work for both us. It made sense to part ways.”
Just days after that decision had been taken, Ingram took a “coincidental” call from Excelr8 – the team founded by Justina Williams in 2009 that also looks after the development and building of cars for the Mini Challenge one-make series.
“I had coached some of their Mini drivers, so I already had a relationship with them, and I like what they do,” explains Ingram, who quickly agreed to lead what will now be a four-strong squad of Hyundais.
*Why the Hyundai hits the spot*
The Toyota Corolla that Ingram has left behind is considered to be one of the best cars on the grid, but he’s certain the i30 N that was new to the BTCC last year has just as much potential.
“In terms of its characteristics, the Hyundai is a little longer, but there’s benefit in its shape,” he says. “The i30 N has the best bits of the Corolla and the Avensis that I drove before. It’s going to be a really good little car.
“Everyone I’ve spoken to on the engineering side away from Excelr8 has said the same thing: the team just needs a bit of direction with it. They would admit that they lacked that last year, because both drivers wanted something slightly different from the car. So it’s an exciting time for me to come in and push it in the direction I think it needs to go.”
The pandemic-related five-week delay to the start of the 2021 season has also done Excelr8 a favour, says Ingram: “It helps everybody, especially as we finished 2020 later. It was going to be a tight turnaround and there’s a lot to do in the off-season. The cars go back to being a bare lump of metal as every nut, bolt and wire in the loom gets stripped to start again. It gives us extra time for development too, and we don’t have to go testing when it’s really cold and icy.”
*Taking on the usual suspects*
In the past four years, Ingram finished third, second, sixth and fourth in the standings. A three-time race winner last year, team errors hurt his campaign, although he was still an outside contender for the title going into the final weekend.
“The BTCC is bloody tough,” says Ingram. “The margins are so fine. You have different makes of car, front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, hatchbacks, saloons – and 10 cars can be covered by a tenth of a second. It’s mind-blowing, and you have to be on the ball as a driver all the time. And if your car isn’t absolutely perfect, you’re off the pace; that’s the difficulty. You need a good engineer and people you can trust.”
Ingram admits “the usual suspects” stand between him and his first crown, but he isn’t alone in having played a spot of winter musical chairs.
“It will be interesting to see what happens with Matt Neal, because we don’t know for certain if he’s coming back or if someone else will take that seat at Dynamics Honda in what is a very quick car,” says Ingram.
“Rory Butcher is now in my old car, which I know is bloody quick, and Jake Hill has jumped in the Ford Focus RS [formerly run by Motorbase, which is now part of MB Motorsport].
“Colin Turkington is staying at West Surrey Racing BMW, as expected, and of course [defending champion] Ash Sutton will be fighting for his third title.
“Then there’s Tom Chilton and Adam Morgan in their new [Ciceley-run] BMWs, not forgetting Jason Plato, who is coming back. It’s going to be so hard to call.”
Consistency and minimising inevitable zeroscores are key to a successful BTCC campaign. “From my side, I feel super-confident that we can be quick from the word go and fight for the championship,” says Ingram, who helpfully clarifies his title sponsor’s pronunciation: “There’s no gin in Ginsters!”
But in the cut and thrust of Britain’s premier series, the service-station staple does at least have a new Korean kick that might just offer the nourishment Ingram needs to scoff his first title.
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