Ingram seals Ginetta racing deal

Ingram showed off his new car to students at Wye Valley School

Tom Ingram has confirmed that he is to graduate to the hotly-fought Ginetta Junior Championship with front-running Tockwith Motorsports outfit.

The Wycombe-born 15-year-old, retired from karting after eight years of competition in January.

He told BBC Three Counties Radio: "It's different to what I'm used to.

"In karting it's one man and his dog standing in a muddy field watching some karts go round. Here there are 30,000-40,000 people coming to watch."

The High Wycombe teenager has 13 major karting titles to his name and hopes to put all his experience and knowledge to good use as he moves into the closed-top sportscar series.

People who have never driven a racing car imagine it will have no grip and will throw you all over the place, but when you go out there you have loads of grip and can go quite hard

Tom Ingram

"I generally cope well with pressure. In the final round of Stars at Buckmore Park in 2006, the whole championship rested on just one race and my main rival was starting behind me," he said.

"It was the most important race of my life, and I managed to pull it off without any mistakes at all.

Ingram admitted he has had to try to banish some of his karting habits as he gets to grips with the ultra-light Ginetta, which has rear-wheel drive and 110bhp.

"It was different to what I had been expecting," he confessed.

"People who have never driven a racing car at speed imagine it will have no grip and will throw you all over the place, but when you go out there you find you actually have loads of grip and can go into the corners quite hard.

Watching Tom in karting, he was always one of the drivers who put the most effort in and like all ex-karters he is very capable.

Tockwith Motorsports owner Simon Moore

"Now I'm more used to the car I've started chucking it about a bit more and getting the back end out.

"The key is to learn how the car is going to handle and being brave enough to know that it isn't going to go anywhere and to put your confidence in it. Since I've been testing I feel I've got quicker and become a better all-round driver for it."

Tockwith Motorsports owner Simon Moore to snapped up Ingram up for the 2009 season and he is sure that with more time in the cockpit and the state-of-the-art facilities his team has to offer, the youngster will be able to turn heads.

Moore said: "Like all ex-karters he is very capable. It's all about how much commitment a driver and his family is willing to put into it when they come into the championship, and Tom's family have always put 100% into their racing and everything associated with it.

Ingram is similarly enthusiastic about his new team and with the opening meeting at Brands Hatch now less than a month away on April 4-5, he is champing at the bit to get going.

"I'm not going into Brands Hatch with any expectations because I'm only just starting out and still getting used to everything.

"I would be over-the-moon if we managed to finish inside the top 10 to get a result like that in my first race with 22 cars on the grid would be really, really good."