Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish says he is looking forward to putting last year’s British Touring Car Championship finale behind him in the trio of contests at Donington Park tomorrow.
Cammish finished runner-up in the 2019 season, and was leading the standings until the penultimate lap of the final race when he suffered a brake failure on his Honda Civic Type R.
With lockdown and the subsequent delayed season start providing more time to reflect on the events of last season, Cammish is excited to have three fresh races to reflect on once tomorrow’s encounters have concluded.
“For me, it’s been tough,” Cammish told ITV. “There’s an old saying that you’re only as good as your last race and obviously mine is now lingering a little.
“When I got out of the car at Brands [Hatch] I didn’t want to see it again for quite a while, but any racing driver will tell you we always want a break and then when we get it we can’t wait to get back in it!
“So two weeks after I was wanting to get going again and put it behind me, obviously what’s happened in the world has just meant I’ve had an extended period of unfortunately just being reminded of what my last race was.
“So I’m really looking forward to this weekend, let’s get started and I’ll have three new races to look back on, and last year will be history.”
Cammish has already gone some way to turning a new leaf in 2020 after securing a front-row start for race one alongside rival Colin Turkington.
Given that the Team Dynamics outfit were forced to change the differential on his Honda just minutes before qualifying got underway, Cammish was relieved to even get out in the session, let alone be at the sharp end.
“We found an issue with the differential after FP2 and we only found it last second,” he said.
“The guys have just changed the differential in about 16 minutes, absolutely amazing work. I don’t know if the cameras picked it up but I didn’t go out at the start of the session.
“The guys got me out bang on when the end of the line had gone, that’s what it took to get me out there, so I owe them so much.
“[Team] Dynamics did an amazing job, again proving why they’re such a great team. To get me out there, and then to give me a car that’s capable of challenging for the pole position.”
With rain falling just before the session, Cammish noted the importance of getting a ‘banker’ lap in early, and felt relief when he could do so.
“I knew I had to get on with it, we’ve all been watching the weather this last hour or so,” he explained.
“We’ve had two great days here at Donington but as it goes on the weather did start to close in a little bit, and it was a relief to get some dry laps in there.
“I’ve just gone seven tenths quicker than what I did in free practice which is a hell of a leap. I’m really pleased to be up there in amongst it, I’m in a bit of a rear-wheel drive sandwich I believe so that’ll be interesting.
“But I’ll give it my best and see what we can do tomorrow.”
With polesitter Turkington likely to lead into turn one, and Ash Sutton’s rear-wheel drive Infiniti just behind in third, Cammish admits he will have a tough time holding position at the start tomorrow.
Despite this, he feels not getting caught up in the battle and securing points will be vital to set up his title challenge for the 2020 season.
“I’ve got to get it off the line, that’s the hard bit. Starting against two rear-wheel drive cars – I’m not a bad racing driver but I can’t beat physics!
“So there’s a good chance I’ll be third into turn one but it’s just about racking up points.
Last year I made mistakes on this track, I got out of grid box position, lost a lot of points and ultimately it’s those points that you come to rue later on in the season.
“For me this year it’s about being mistake free.”
The season-opening British Touring Car Championship race of 2020 is set to get underway tomorrow at 11:10 BST.