Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish believes the trio of British Touring Car Championship races at Knockhill will be “pivotal” in deciding the fate of the 2019 championship battle.
Cammish out-qualifed both title rivals Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan for the opening race tomorrow [15 September], and feels outscoring them will be key to his championship chances.
He told TouringCars.Net his front-row start “felt a bit like a pole,” acknowledging that polesitter Rory Butcher was untouchable throughout Saturday’s sessions.
“It’s just testament to how well the car is going at the moment,” said Cammish. “We’ve really got it in that sweet spot.
“It works exactly how I want it to, it’s giving me every opportunity to deliver and I am, so I couldn’t be more happy.
“Today feels a bit like a pole – no-one was going to make Rory’s lap – he’s down the road. Two-and-a-half tenths around here is a lot.
“If you look into that, around a normal circuit, it’s a chunk of time. You get everything out of yourself around here for half a tenth let alone that!
“Fair play to him for doing that, but it just shows. There’s only two tenths between me and tenth, so that’s the kind of pace he’s shown today so fair play to him.”
With Andrew Jordan just behind in third position while standings leader Colin Turkington will start sixth for race one, Cammish admitted he will have a difficult time off the line but feels he will be more than a match in terms of race pace.
“The physics of it don’t work in my favour, a rear-wheel drive is going to beat a front-wheel drive off the line,” he said.
“But there’s a lot to play out yet. We’ve got to use the softs twice tomorrow. Are people going to look after them? Have people got setups to look after them? Who knows.
“It’s alright having a fast car in qualifying, do you have a fast car in the race? Big difference, that.
“Also we’ve got Colin [Turkington] starting a bit further back, both he and [Andrew] Jordan will be trying to maximise the points.
“There’s going to be some fireworks tomorrow, I feel like this could be a pivotal round for the whole thing.
“I think we can come out of this pretty well.”