Ingram targeting consistency ahead of opener

Team Toyota GB's Tom Ingram has set himself the target of securing three top-ten results on his first British Touring Car Championship weekend with the new Speedworks built Toyota Corolla.

The 2018 BTCC vice-champion will kick off his 2019 campaign from fourth row on the grid after he posted the seventh fastest time during yesterday's damp qualifying session.

Having driven the new Corolla in the wet for the first time yesterday, Ingram admitted the 30-minute shootout was a journey into the unknown for his Speedworks squad.

"I’m very happy with that," Ingram told Crash.net. "It was a difficult session. Red flags, greasy conditions and first time we’ve driven the car in the wet as well. There were a number of things thrown at us but I’m very pleased with the performance.

"The lads worked fantastically well as a team because that was a really difficult session. A hell of a lot to get done in short amount of time. Some very clever tactical calls. So as a team we did incredibly well.

"I’m very pleased with seventh. We’ve not driven the car in the wet or on those tyres yet so it was a real unknown."

Looking ahead to a potential title challenge, Ingram has highlighted the importance of maintaining a high level of consistency as the Team Toyota GB driver looks to avenge his 2018 title defeat.

"We kind of came into the weekend with the goal of being in the top-ten and we’ve achieved that. Our next goal is to get three top-ten finishes tomorrow [Sunday].

"It sounds boring and undramatic but that’s the approach we need. We need to just score points. You can see from last year, the championship is going to be won on how you manage your bad days, rather than how you do on your good days.

"We need to make sure every weekend is as consistent as possible. You look at Colin [Turkington], one race win and it won him the title. We really need to take a lot from that and take that ethos in this season as well."