Dan Cammish:
Dan Cammish
“Qualifying was great and I did the best job I could do. We maybe missed the ultimate pace, but we still put it at the front. It’s been a little while since I had to work on track evolution like that and pre-empt the grip coming up – it’s incredible as we found a second between set one and two of the tyres.
“Race one was a bit of a struggle. We went the wrong way on set up and it showed. We had enough for a clear second, but Hanafin was in a different league. It shows how much of a difference car setup can make in a one-make championship because in race two we got past him and drove away and that shows we made the right changes.
“I am happy with race two, but it was a bit of a shame I made a mistake on the opening lap, as I knew [Harry] King would be super aggressive, so I upped my aggression levels to match him. I passed [Will] Martin into turn two and got a run on [Lorcan] Hanafin. I had the job done but then had a snap of oversteer in the middle of turn three which put me on the grass and meant I lost out to Martin again and [James] Dorlin got past, it probably cost me three or four seconds in the end.
“By the time I had cleared them and got going we had so much pace. I caught [Kiern] Jewiss with a lap or two to go but he had it covered in the right areas, and it would always be a risk. I could see there was a penalty for Harry, and I had second. A win and a second on the opening weekend when you haven’t raced in the series for three years? I’ll take that all day long. On another day I could have won both today, but it wasn’t to be.
“The changes we made to the car show the team will get better and I will get better too. It’s buried in me quite deeply in there and it’s coming out, I could tell it was coming out in race two as some of the things I used to do with the car to get it to stick were coming back. I will dig deep enough to peel back the BTCC layers and find the Porsche in me, so it’s a good start to the season.”
Two-time Porsche Carrera Cup GB champion Dan Cammish returned to the series in style as he claimed a victory and second place to lead the standings after the opening two races of the season, held under hot and sunny skies at Snetterton in Norfolk.
Coming into the weekend all eyes were on Dan, not just as a returning champion, but also with his stunning livery, representing Duckhams and Porsche Centre Preston with an iconic look which harkens back to some of the glory days of UK motorsport.
In a closely fought qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, Dan would have to settle for best of the rest behind the rapid Lorcan Hanafin but was comfortably faster than those behind him as well.
Getting off the line in race one he settled behind Hanafin and wasn’t able to make any progress on the leader who had runaway pace. However, the Yorkshireman kept himself in the fight and his hard work paid off at the end of the contest as Hanafin had rolled before the lights went out and was given a ten second time penalty, promoting Dan to the win.
With a partial reverse grid draw for race two leaving him back in sixth place on the grid, Dan knew he’d have to make some ground early on and fought his way past Will Martin and was putting a move on Hanafin before a snap of oversteer forced him onto the grass and back down to sixth position.
Digging deep, he then passed Hanafin, worked hard to get back past Martin again, and quickly caught Lewis Plato who ran wide allowing Dan into third place. He quickly closed a 2.2 second gap to Kiern Jewiss but couldn’t quite find a way past in the closing laps, deciding not to risk a good result. With Harry King being given a five-second track limit penalty, it promoted Dan to second for a good another haul of points and the lead of the championship by five points.
Dan will be back on track in his Duckhams / Porsche Centre Preston machine in two weeks’ time as the series travels to the tight and action-packed Brands Hatch Indy circuit in Kent.