Dan Cammish:
“It’s been a tricky weekend because we’ve just not quite been quick enough, but we’re so close to the ultimate pace. You feel like you’re a whisker away from it, but I just can’t quite keep up. We’ll keep working on it and figuring it out as we have done all season and I know the team at Motorbase Performance / NAPA Racing UK will do everything they can. We gave it our best on race day, but lacking those last fractions of a second meant that we couldn’t fight for a podium in races one and two, though I did all I could to help Ash and the team in the championships.
“Race three was spoiled off the start. To have Josh basically pull right towards the pit wall when I was already in the gap, basically put me in the pit wall, and then to half spin himself was just ridiculous. I should have led into turn one and that’s the truth, but instead ended up going into turn one in sixth because I’ve got Josh sideways in front of me, I’m on the brake halfway down towards the first turn and people swamped me. It wasn’t what we deserve but it’s the hand we were dealt. I think we probably could have hung on to a podium, but I would have had to drive my heart out to stay there.”
Dan Cammish fought hard for a hat-trick of top ten finishes in the British Touring Car Championship at the weekend (September 24/25) while doing his best to aid NAPA Racing UK teammate Ash Sutton to the series’ title in the process.
Coming into Silverstone with a good run of form, Dan was hopeful of continuing in that vein. In qualifying, the Yorkshireman performed well, finishing fifth quickest, but was unlucky to lose time on his fastest lap as he got close to Sutton while towing behind, trying to maximise the draft around the 1.6-mile circuit.
The Motorbase Performance racer started the opening 22-lap race well, holding fifth, but found Ricky Collard getting alongside coming out of Luffield on the first lap, getting past and clear into Copse corner. On the third lap a battle for second bunched the pack up, which meant Dan was part of a seven-car squabble, defending from Gordon Shedden and then gaining fourth as Collard ran wide.
Shedden then fought his way past with a similar move out of Luffield, relegating Dan back to fifth where he came under pressure from Tom Ingram who also found his way past. After a Safety Car period, things were a little more processional as the field evened itself out, Dan letting Ash Sutton through on the final lap to maximise the team’s championship score.
Dan had a good start to race two, getting past Ingram off the line, though slipping back behind on the second lap before things settled down. There were then two separate Safety Car periods before he crossed the line seventh, with almost the entire field lapping with only a few tenths of a second difference in pace, making forward progress challenging.
With eighth being drawn for the reverse grid final race, Dan had the boost of lining up second and started well, before Josh Cook on pole moved across to cover him off, almost pushing him into the wall. That cost Dan momentum, which dropped him down several positions, ending the first lap in fifth position, but he managed to get past Cook for fourth just before the Safety Car was called for the first time. It came back out again before even a lap of racing was complete, with racing finally getting underway on the 14th of what was now a 24-lap race. Jake Hill managed to sweep past, with Dan crossing the line fifth to cap a strong weekend, albeit one where a podium could have been on the cards.
Dan will head to Brands Hatch for the final races of the 2022 British Touring Car Championship season over the weekend of October 8/9, where he will aim to end the year on a high and do all he can to support NAPA Racing UK colleague Ash Sutton to secure the Drivers’ title.
