Dan Cammish: ‘My chance of a title is probably slipping’ despite Donington win

Dan Cammish admitted that his chance of claiming this year’s British Touring Car Championship title is ‘probably slipping’ away, despite claiming his first win of the season at Donington Park.

Cammish has fallen a further four points behind in the overall title battle, having scored a brace of points finishes before picking up a reverse-grid win at the weekend.

The NAPA Racing UK driver was on the pace in the wet at Donington, before qualifying in just ninth as the dry conditions later on Saturday caught him out.

Struggling to make progress in the opening race, the 35-year-old finished in eighth, leaving him vulnerable in the mid-pack again for race two.

That resulted in a first lap incident dropping Cammish to the back of the pack in the second race, as BMW’s Adam Morgan tagged Speedworks’ Josh Cook into Cammish and knocked him off the circuit.

But, in a twist of fate, Cammish, who had battled back to 11^th by the end of the race, found himself randomly drawn to start the finale from pole, where he duly claimed a lights-to-flag win for his first victory of the year.

Despite the boost of a win, Cammish admitted it had been a mixed weekend which saw him fall to 46 points behind championship leader Jake Hill with only six races still to run.

“A little bit of an up and down weekend,” said Cammish of his weekend to TouringCars.Net. “We came here with high hopes – I went so well here 12 months ago for only a short period. But we were so fast before the brake failure I really thought we could come again and just have a really fast car and do a great job.

“We were so fast in the rain when we topped FP1 by a country mile on a very worn wet tyre. If it had been raining I’d have backed myself for pole every day of the week, but it dried out and ultimately I got three laps in the dry all day.

“That’s probably only my fifth or sixth dry lap ever at Donington GP in a touring car, so I just felt under prepared; I missed the cut off by two tenths and your weekend changes.

“It was tough – really difficult, but I have no-one to blame. I don’t even blame myself – I thought I drove the car as quick as I felt comfortable with at that point, I just couldn’t wring the neck for that last little bit I needed.

“It’s all excuses, but it all adds up to why your day has maybe not gone exactly to plan. The last two rounds have been strange Saturdays, they’ve just not been straightforward.

“You get thrown in at the last minute: these are the conditions you’re faced with, just do your best. Look at some of the best Saturdays we have had, they’ve all come from learning and learning, fine tuning that last little bit of speed out of the car.

“Today, eighth in race one wasn’t bad but it’s just difficult out there. There’s no rhyme or reasons to it, it’s just a typical touring car race and we got caught up in a few bits – in that part of the grid you do.

“In race two, I made a great start and was really happy with what we were doing. I was minding my own business when a wild Josh Cook appeared. I think he’d been hit by Morgan and if I’d not have been there I think it would have turned him around or put him on the grass.

“The way he hit me at such an angle snapped the steering wheel out of my hand and sent the car right onto the grass. If he’d have hit me anywhere else I would have carried on. But it was just perfectly on the left-front and it spat me straight off.

“I was so disappointed because I was already in fifth at that point. Ultimately, I might have finished fourth or fifth, then I would have started fourth or fifth, and probably wouldn’t have been a winner. Touring car racing is funny like that.”

“I don’t think we’ve got the pace we want – I think we’ve got a bit of work to do. I think we’ve been caught napping a little bit. Not for any reason, but we went on a nice run through the summer and a few people have moved on.

“Ash [Sutton] has gone away with Tony [Carozza, engineer] and they’ve really worked at redeveloping the car. That’s coincided with seeing an upturn in a few people – the Toyotas have come up for example, the Astras seem really strong, and we haven’t been able to kick on to that mid-season pace we had. That’s shown and we’ve sort of fallen away.

“In race three we went a bit more radical with the car and I think we need to keep going in that direction.

“I think the championship is a bit out of reach but my whole goal this year was to be a lot closer to the front, a lot closer to Ash, and to have a strong and consistent season. I think we’re doing that.

“I’ve had eight podiums now, I’m fourth or fifth now, right there with Colin [Turkington]. This is now a job being the best of the rest and contributing to bringing home the Manufacturers’ and Teams’ titles, which is so important to us.

“It’s not over yet, but I think my chance of a title is probably slipping. But it’s nice to think I’ve got a future here and I can mount a challenge in 2025.”