TOM Ingram lost further ground on title rival Ash Sutton despite stepping onto the podium in the latest round of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC).
The Coventry driver finished second in race one while early BTCC leader Sutton finished down in 10th after the latter driver suffered a DNF in the qualifying race at Snetterton.
However, Team Vertu driver Ingram suffered a power steering issue and alternator failure in race two which forced the defending champion to retire.
Ingram then produced a stunning recovery drive in race three from the back of the grid and initially crossed the line in third place.
However, a 10-second post-race penalty for exceeding track limits saw Ingram drop to eighth as title rival Sutton won race two and finished second in race three.
The results leave Ingram second in the drivers’ standings on 117 points with Sutton some 57 points clear of the Coventry driver.
And Ingram reflected on a frustrating weekend although the defending BTCC champion insists he will continue to take the fight to Sutton.
Ingram said: “I think disappointing is the only way to word the weekend because we showed that the car is quick but we come away from Snetterton having lost ground in the standings and having not picked up the three strong results we know we are capable of.
“The qualifying race was a solid result when you consider that we had so little turbo boost to play with, and the fact that Ash was at the back meant we had a chance to gain ground in race one, which is what we did.
“Obviously I’d have preferred the win, but second was a strong result in really difficult conditions with the heat.
“Race two was one of the most challenging I’ve done after we lost the power steering and it was a huge battle to try and keep fighting on track until the alternator failed, and that’s one of situations where there was literally nothing else I could have done.
“The final race was fantastic from my point of view and to finish on the podium from the back was brilliant, which made it all the more frustrating to then get the penalty and undo all the effort that had gone in to come through the field.
“We can see where our opponents are strong at the moment and we’ll keep working hard to take the fight to them, starting at Oulton Park in a few weeks.”
The BTCC season continues at Oulton Park over the weekend of June 6 and 7.
