Dan Cammish:
“I’m really happy with how qualifying went. To go from almost going out in Q1 and struggling a bit with the performance and balance to putting in a blinder of a lap to come fifth in the shootout was fantastic.
“The weekend was very consistent, but the last race was a little bit disappointing, as it was the best the car has felt all weekend. We had the potential and the speed to be on the podium, but the misunderstanding with the Safety Car meant we couldn’t make the most of that and were shuffled down the order instead.
“Ultimately, I’m happy with the weekend and happy with my performance. We’ve got a little bit to find over the summer break as we’re consistently around fourth, fifth, or sixth. It’s status quo at the minute, so we just need to find a bit more performance to get back up there into the podium positions.”
Dan Cammish enjoyed three top-six finishes in the British Touring Car Championship at the weekend (June 17/18), as he and the NAPA Racing UK team headed to Oulton Park for rounds 13, 14, and 15 of the season.
In qualifying on Saturday, Dan made it through into the top-ten shootout, and dug deep in that final run, putting in a storming lap to go fifth fastest, where he would start the opening contest the following day.
As the lights went out at the start of race one, the Yorkshireman was wheel to wheel with Bobby Thompson into turn one, taking fourth before Tom Ingram managed to get past. Coming under pressure from Josh Cook, Dan put in a great defensive drive to maintain fifth until the chequered flag.
Unfazed by Cook’s attempt at a pass around Old Hall on the opening lap of race two, Dan held onto fifth before the Safety Car was deployed after Will Powell got stuck in the gravel at Druids. With the field neutralised, Dan lost a place to Colin Turkington but soon retook fifth position after a daring move down the inside of Ricky Collard, Cook following him through, though with two laps to go, Cook worked his way past leaving Dan to cross the line sixth.
Lining up second for race three on the partially reversed grid, Turkington pipped Dan off the line, pushing him back to third before the Safety Car was called. Confusion then followed as some, Dan included, slowed having heard the call on the radio, whilst others carried on at racing speed to the start/finish line.
Consequently, Jake Hill and Tom Ingram passed Dan on track before they all slowed and, once action got underway again, Dan held onto fifth place to the flag, fending off the attention of the soft tyre-shod Aiden Moffat in the closing stages.
Dan will be back out on track in his NAPA Racing UK / Motorbase Ford Focus ST in six weeks’ time as the championship heads to his ‘home’ circuit of Croft over the weekend of July 29/30.
