TOM Ingram admitted to feeling relieved after taking a maiden win of the season in the British Touring Car Championship at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

The Speedworks Motorsport ace, got the better of pole-sitter Rob Austin in race three, and has an early lead in the drivers’ standings after a new campaign’s first three rounds.

“It’s a great finish to the weekend,” he said afterwards.

“There was a lot of pressure on us beforehand with people saying they expected us to qualify on pole and win the first race, but it was a bit of an uphill battle.

“I didn’t expect to win from so far back on the grid, so I’m proper chuffed.”

He surged from 11th on the grid up to sixth in the Northwich team’s Toyota Avensis, and passed Mike Bushell’s Volkswagen shortly afterwards.

Following a brief safety-car period, the reigning Independents’ Trophy champion caught Scot Aiden Moffat napping after the restart and moved up to third.

Second spot was soon his before he scythed inside Austin’s all-new Alfa Romeo Giulietta on the run down to Paddock Hill Bend at the start of lap 13.

From there, he powered to a comfortable victory at the Kent track.

Northwich Guardian:

Speedworks driver Tom Ingram, right, nips by Rob Austin's Alfa Romeo Giulietta for a British Touring Car Championship win at Brands Hatch on Sunday

Ingram said: “The car feels phenomenal; when we put weight in it, it’s mega. If we take out the weight, it’s still mega – we’ve really found the sweet spot.

“It was fun being able to just throw it down the inside of people into Clearways because it was so stable on the brakes.”

Ingram had earlier climbed from ninth on the grid at the start of race one up to fourth spot by the finish.

However he concluded a remarkable second sprint, during which he briefly held the lead, down in 11th.

The contest started in damp conditions, but the rain had stopped falling prior to the lights going out.

Speedworks had put wet tyres on their machine, and Ingram took advantage early on.

The cars with wet runners couldn’t hang on though, and a clear dry line around the 1.2-mile circuit saw Senna Proctor surge up the order to prevail in his Vauxhall Astra.

Race one winner Jack Goff (Eurotech Honda Civic) trails Ingram by three points ahead of the series’ second round at Donington Park later this month.