Dan Cammish:
“We were sixth in qualifying which wasn’t a bad effort, it’s slightly disappointing as I thought we could have been a touch higher, but it was a decent job nonetheless and a good place to start. For race one I was the highest guy on the medium tyre, and I thought we drove a really good race, I’m happy with my performance and the car felt great.
“Race two was better, we went from fifth to third after making use of the soft tyre, and it was nice to be back on the podium. I had almost caught Tom [Ingram] as a Safety Car came out, which kind of screwed my charge a little bit just as it was getting going, but it was a great race anyway. With Colin [Turkington] having gone out in race two, it gave us an opportunity to try and win the manufacturers title in race three. That was all that was in my mind as we went out, it would have been nice to get back to fifth in the championship, but unless [Josh] Cook had not finished it wasn’t possible for me. So the Manufacturers’ title was the focus, and we managed to do that.
“I played a part in bringing home the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ titles this year for NAPA Racing UK and Alliance Racing Ford, so I’m very proud of that. Next year we’ll go again and try and take top spot from Ash, who has been absolutely incredible this year. Congratulations to him. It’s nice to finish a whisker away from fifth place having basically not scored any points in at least three events. It’s a great achievement and shows where we could have been. Next year is another chance to go again. I’ve got a good group of people around me and a great team. This year was an improvement on last, and next year we’ll keep building together to do even better.”
Dan Cammish ended his 2023 British Touring Car Championship campaign on a positive note at the weekend (October 7/8) as the series headed to Brands Hatch for the final three races of the season. He took a podium in race two on the Grand Prix circuit – his sixth visit to the podium this year.
Looking for a strong final weekend after terrible luck meant he wasn’t able to finish any of the previous six races, Dan finished ninth in FP1, tenth in FP2, and dug deep in qualifying to finish sixth – just a tenth of a second from a front row start.
Starting race one on the medium tyre, with teams able to freely pick their own allocations over the weekend, he had a good launch off the line but was shuffled back by the soft-shod Colin Turkington on the opening lap, helping Jake Hill also get through.
With the battle for third bunching up the cars ahead, he was able to make a challenge on Turkington but couldn’t quite make it stick. Dan made it past Hill the following lap and moved into sixth as another car went off, before a late Safety Car naturalised the field where he took fifth from teammate Dan Rowbottom on the final lap.
Dan had a good start to race two and gained fourth before the Safety Car was called and, on the restart, made the most of the soft tyre he was running, taking third from Bobby Thompson. With the Safety Car returning to the track in the closing minutes there was one final racing lap but despite a late charge, crossed the line third, just 0.2s behind Tom Ingram.
Starting seventh for the final race of the season after the reverse grid draw, he started well but was boxed in off the line and remained seventh before the Safety Car made another appearance. On the restart he was shuffled back before regaining eighth as another Safety Car was called. He took seventh as racing resumed but on the penultimate lap lost momentum due to contact from Adam Morgan and dropped to ninth, where he crossed the line.
Despite the recent setbacks it ends another good season for Dan who scored three victories, claimed six total podiums, and took three pole positions during 2023. In addition, thanks to his and teammate Ash Sutton’s efforts, NAPA Racing UK clinched the Teams’ Championship as Alliance Racing/Ford took the Manufacturers’ title, bringing to an end BMW’s seven-year reign.
