Dan Cammish:
“I feel great as it was a tough weekend. I came in with such high hopes as we have such a strong package, but we didn’t quite have the pace and struggled in qualifying, which was disappointing. We finished P8 in the first race and looked a bit average, and in race two I had a great start and got collected. I was a passenger in the wrong place at the wrong time and if it had hit any other part of the car I would have continued and probably finished fifth or sixth. But then I would have started there for the final one and I wouldn’t have the winner’s trophy.
“I am really glad we came back to 11th in race two, as the team wanted me to box because they were worried about the car and the engine as we’d been through the grass. I said, ‘I think we’re okay, let’s keep going as if I box now, we’ll be half a lap behind. We might be able to salvage something.’ I passed [Tom] Chilton for 11th, they pulled 11 out of the bag, your day turns around, and now I am a winner. It’s one of those things – don’t give up.
“Race three wasn’t easy at all as the conditions were so changeable, but I had a fantastic start and couldn’t have picked a better teammate [to have behind me] than Sam [Osborne]. I was 2.5 seconds in the lead when the Safety Car came but thankfully, I hadn’t taken anything out of the tyre or pushed the car too hard by that point, so I had a lot in reserve. Then the rain came, and I was thinking ‘why is this happening? We’re trying to win our first race of the season.’
“It’s difficult when the rain falls as you’re first on the scene, but I kept my head down, made no mistakes, and when the track dried, I managed the switchover point. You’re arriving at a corner and thinking ‘last lap was damp, what’s it like this lap?’ I am really proud as I haven’t gone a season without winning a race in the BTCC. I’ve got a lot to catch up on from that race, and the support we get is amazing. It’s great to see so many fans come out, with the changeable weather and wind, so the least I can do is spend the last 10 minutes of the day taking pictures and saying thank you to them.”
Dan Cammish took his first victory of the British Touring Car Championship season at the weekend (August 24/25), maintaining his run of scoring at least one win in each of his six full-time campaigns in the series.
The Yorkshireman was on the pace, despite wet, drizzly conditions in the first practice, finishing fastest, and in the second session, he was third, giving a boost ahead of qualifying. Going out in Part 1 – Group 1, Dan left it to his final lap, but made it through to Part 2, where he finished ninth quickest, less than two tenths of a second from a spot in the Quick Six.
Dan remained ninth at the start of race one, before the Safety Car was called on lap four of the planned 14. Restarting on lap eight of what would now be 17, he was into eighth and in the closing stages almost snuck by Rob Huff for seventh, but found the door swiftly closed.
Rain fell ahead of race two, dampening the circuit, though the field started on slick tyres. Dan had a good launch, gaining one place and looked set to capitalise by grabbing at least one more through turn one. Unfortunately, the cars ahead came together, with one spearing into Dan’s Ford Focus ST, sending him off onto the grass and down the order. Without a Safety Car to bunch everyone up, he did well to gain seven places, crossing the line 11th at the flag.
That hard work paid off as he was drawn on pole for the final race of the weekend, starting well and building a gap to the pack behind. That lead would soon be eradicated, thanks to two Safety Car periods, but Dan managed each restart well, even as a shower dampened the circuit, taking a hard-earned first win of the season.
Buoyed by that performance, Dan now looks ahead to the next three races of the campaign, which take place on the Silverstone National circuit, over the weekend of September 21/22.
