mountune-powered Dan Cammish got his Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship campaign back on track at a wet Brands Hatch Indy Circuit on Sunday, 15th May, after racing to a brace of fantastic podium finishes in his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST.
Taking his first podium result for the Motorbase Performance-run squad in a damp fourth round, Cammish – who had qualified eighth fastest and just 0.2 seconds shy of pole – finished in a terrific third place.
Going one better in a slippery round five, Cammish raced to second position and was tantalisingly just 0.2 seconds shy of the victory. He wrapped up the second weekend of the BTCC season with another top 10 in the finale.
Ash Sutton overturned a very tough qualifying to secure a great haul of points on raceday and maintain third in the championship, beginning by storming through from 18th on the grid to finish an impressive ninth in race one.
The reigning champion then moved through from ninth to fourth place in the second contest, another very strong drive, and then took sixth in round six to round-out a positive raceday. NAPA Racing UK was the top scoring entrant in round five and Motorbase and Ford were the winning manufacturer and constructor.
Ollie Jackson achieved a pair of points results with a season-best 14th for the Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan entry in round five, having started 23rd on the grid as per his round four result, before bettering it with a very competitive top 12 finish in round six.
In the sister Ford Focus, Osborne took the flag in race one just behind Jackson in 24th spot and improved in race two with a top 20 finish. Racing well in the third encounter, Osborne was into 18th position by lap seven and after some mid-race position changing he reclaimed the place.
Oly Collins – Motorbase Performance Team Manager:
“What a weekend! After a difficult qualifying session, the team worked wonders to make the cars as competitive as we were all day on Sunday. I’m especially pleased for Dan, in tricky conditions, he had a fantastic day moving forward from his grid spot in every race and was so close to the win in race two.
“Those conditions are always hard for the drivers and engineers, we’re forced to make difficult, late decisions because of the unpredictable weather. Then the crew have to work super-fast to make the relevant changes, not to mention the drivers who then have to drive a strategic race to look after their tyres and predict whether or not the track is going to dry more or if it’s going to rain again. Throughout the team and throughout the day our whole team did this brilliantly and fully deserve the trophies we won including the Teams’ trophy – always a nice one to win.”
Dan Cammish – NAPA Racing UK, No.9:
“I was really pleased with race one, it was a tough old race – seeing how it ebbed and flowed – and it’s about the third time I’ve been at Brands Indy where conditions are flipping on a coin. We had more dry bias in the car and it just got better and better. It was a similar story in race two, three quarters of the race we were hanging in there and suddenly my car switched on. It really was like a switch flicked, with one more lap I think that could’ve been my win. It’s fantastic to get two podiums and some points on the board for my championship, this is the start of my season.”
Ash Sutton – NAPA Racing UK, No.1:
“Considering where we were after qualifying on Saturday I’m pretty happy to come away with three top 10 finishes and still sitting third in the championship. I’d say we were helped a little bit by the weather on Sunday, but the car certainly felt better and I was able to make progress in all three races. Next, we’re off to Thruxton and I’m looking forward to seeing how we get on there. I think the hybrid deployment and its impact will be quite interesting. The car should be strong there – it certainly was at the Season Launch – so I’m confident we can get amongst it.”
Ollie Jackson – Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan, No.48:
“It’s good to get some points this weekend. To be fair, the biggest problem we had was we went the wrong way with the set-up in qualifying and for race one. I switched closer to Dan’s set-up for race two, as that obviously worked, and it was much better. The track conditions were pretty consistent lap to lap in each race really, the resurfaced area of track was a lot grippier but it didn’t seem like anybody’s car worked on both. Some were stronger on the newer bits, some on the older parts.”
Sam Osborne – Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan, No.77:
“The conditions were tough, it’s been a tough weekend overall to be honest. As the track gripped up we kind of started losing the front, that’s something we’ve been struggling with, and so we haven’t been able to get the power down. It’s been a tricky weekend so we’ll have to regroup now and have a think on how we can move forward, I know the guys in the team will put us in the right direction.”
Hampshire’s Thruxton Circuit will host the first of two visits by the BTCC this year a fortnight from now, over the weekend 28th/29th May, for rounds seven, eight and nine of the 2022 season.
2022 BTCC Drivers Championship
3rd Ash Sutton, 71pts; 11th Dan Cammish, 41pts; 19th Ollie Jackson, 6pts; No Score – Sam Osborne
2022 BTCC Manufacturers/Constructors Championship
2nd Motorbase Performance/Ford, 151pts
2022 BTCC Teams Championship
2nd NAPA Racing UK, 113pts; 12th Apec Racing with Beavis Morgan, 8pts
2022 Jack Sears Trophy
4th Sam Osborne, 69pts