Dan Cammish inherits BTCC Race to Pole win
- Michael Williams
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish will start race one tomorrow at Oulton Park from pole position, after winning the Race to Pole this afternoon. This followed from qualifying second in the regular qualifying session.
Power Maxed Racing’s Aiden Moffat topped the Free Practice session ahead of qualifying. Another notable headline heading into qualifying was the withdrawal of Max Buxton from today’s action due to illness, with Speedworks hoping to get him back in the car for tomorrow.
The qualifying session got underway at 14:00 local time, with group A taking to the track first. NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton set the first competitive time with a 1:26.378, but was quickly usurped by teammate Lewis Selby, with a 1:26.053. Dan Cammish then rose to the top with a 1:24.558.
Midway through the session, Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard had a brief moment off track at the bottom of Cascades. Sutton meanwhile, lost a lap due to a track limits infringement.
With just over four minutes remaining in the first group, Speedworks’s Josh Cook went quickest in his Toyota with a lap time of 1:24.384. Tom Ingram put in an important lap late in the session to rise to third behind Cook and Cammish. The former improved to a 1:24.318 in the dying portions of the group A session, as Sutton went second and again lost the lap due to track limits.
Cammish went quickest on his last lap with a time of 1:24.222, topping group A ahead of Cook, Sutton and Ingram. Restart Racing’s Chris Smiley went fourth late on, but lost the lap due to track limits.
Group B then took to the track, with eyes on WSR’s Charles Rainford as he had the least amount of boost in the second group. He then set the first representative time of the group, with a time of 1:25.835, aboard his WSR BMW.
PMR continued their good form as Mikey Doble and Dexter Patterson rose to the top, with Doble on top with a time of 1:24.858. Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan then popped into second in his Mercedes as Árón Taylor Smith went quickest, but quickly lost the lap due to track limits. Taylor-Smith then returned to the top with a time of 1:24.213, a quicker time than that set by Cammish in group A, meaning Group B’s quickest driver will start on pole.
Patterson then rose to third in the final minutes aboard his PMR Audi. Daryl DeLeon struggled with track limits the entire session, whilst also losing a lap time due to overboosting, and with a minute left in the session he hadn’t actually set a legal lap. He did manage to put a lap time in right at the end of the session, but only managed ninth in his group.
Taylor Smith therefore, secured pole position for the Race to Pole ahead of Cammish, Doble, Cook and Patterson.
This then set the stage for another exciting qualifying race, with many drivers having a points to prove. The Race to Pole would be ten laps in length.
Taylor Smith got away well from pole position, maintaining the race lead into turn one, ahead of Cammish as Cook and Doble battled for third, with Cook coming out on top. Team VERTU’s Tom Chilton then went off at Island Bend, making contact with the barrier. Meanwhile, one of the Plato Racing Mercedes, as well as Gordon Shedden cut the chicane.
Ingram attempted an ambitious move on Sutton at the last corner, but had to remain behind, applying significant pressure to his championship rival. Shedden then pit with a front left puncture. The safety car then came out on lap two, after a big off for the Hyundai of Nicolas Hamilton, as Chilton rejoined the race. Hamilton lost the car under braking heading into Island Bend and made significant contact with the barrier.
Dan Rowbottom came into pit lane midway, after earlier problems on track, but did manage to rejoin. The race would resume on lap six, with Taylor Smith still leading Cammish. Three additional laps were added due to the lengthy safety car period.
A queue was forming behind Cook in the battle for third. Sutton pulled off a brave overtake into the chicane, passing Doble and moving into fourth place as Cammish was all over Taylor Smith for the race lead. Doble then fell to sixth, being overtaken by Ingram.
Deeper in the pack, teammates Chilton and Collard, battled for 14th place. On lap eight, the race leader, Taylor Smith, was awarded a five second time penalty for going against the restart procedure.
Ingram continued to pressure Sutton for fourth, he then made contact with Sutton heading into the final corner, allowing both Doble and Patterson to join the fight. Ingram then gave the position back to Sutton into turn one. Sam Osborne then went off dramatically at Cascades as the pack closed in behind the Sutton vs Ingram battle.
Cammish then began to be put under pressure by Cook for second, as both chased down the race lead. Chilton, Collard and Rainford provided a good battle in the closing laps, fighting for 12th place.
Taylor Smith would hold off those behind him to take the chequered flag first, but fell to fifth thanks to his time penalty. This handed the Race to Pole win and pole position for race one to the NAPA Ford of Cammish. The qualifying race podium was completed by Cook and Sutton, followed by Ingram.
The top ten was completed by Doble, Adam Morgan, Patterson, Moffat and Smiley. Then came Chilton, Collard, Rainford as Lewis Selby and DeLeon completed the points paying positions. The running order was rounded out by Rowbottom, James Dorlin and Osborne, with Hamilton and Shedden retiring from the race.
Race one is due to get underway at 12:25 local time tomorrow, with support package racing throughout the day.
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