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BTCC Donington Park: Cammish fastest in unrepresentative practice

Ford Focus driver Dan Cammish was quickest in British Touring Car Championship practice at Donington Park across two unrepresentative sessions affected by wet weather.

The Alliance Racing driver was fastest in the opening 35 minutes of practice to set the best time of the morning as the NAPA-liveried Fords looked strong in the changeable conditions.

Cammish defeated his team-mate Dan Rowbottom by just 0.078 seconds in FP1, while reigning champion Ash Sutton made it three of the Focuses inside the top four - points leader Tom Ingram's Hyundai i30 N Fastback the only interloper.

The track was wettest in the opening session, although the rain was nowhere near as heavy as the deluge that hit the Leicestershire venue for the BTCC's season-opener in April.

However, despite the track drying and the drivers switching to slick tyres for FP2, the lap times were actually slower than those they had managed earlier as the circuit remained very greasy in places.

(Photo by: JEP)

"I think the first session was more representative," Cammish told Autosport, adding he "got some housekeeping done" in FP2 by scrubbing some tyres in, despite the lack of meaningful running.

"I think we're in a good place for qualifying but it's a step into the unknown for all of us."

While Cammish topped the timesheets for the vast majority of the opening session, the track conditions did catch out several drivers, including 2012 World Touring Car champion Rob Huff, who brought out the red flags when he skated into the gravel at Goddards early on.

Fellow Toyota Corolla driver Aiden Moffat also had a sizeable moment heading into the Old Hairpin but he was able to extricate his Speedworks-run car under his own steam.

Rowbottom was then on course to top FP2 with a 1m42.849s, which compared to the 1m41.679s that Cammish managed in the earlier session, until Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra driver Mikey Doble usurped Rowbottom in the final moments by just 0.006s.

Mikey Doble, Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing (Photo by: JEP)

Cammish was third quickest with Sutton, Andrew Watson (Toyota) and the pick of the West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport contingent Jake Hill rounding out the top six - despite the latter battling illness.

A tough morning for Huff was compounded by him not completing a single lap in FP2 as the Speedworks squad worked to change his Corolla's steering rack.

The tricky conditions also meant a difficult start to Mini Challenge conqueror Dan Zelos's debut BTCC weekend. He was 18th and 14th fastest in the two sessions having replaced Ronan Pearson at the wheel of an Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai.

Doble's late improvement has set up an intriguing group draw for qualifying as title contenders Sutton, Hill, Colin Turkington (BMW) and Josh Cook (Toyota) are joined by Rowbottom and Adam Morgan (BMW) in a strong Group 2 field.

Only Cammish and Ingram of the key contenders are in Group 1 with the fastest six from each bunch progressing to the next stage of qualifying.

BTCC Donington Park - Practice results

FP2

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
88 Vauxhall Astra 14

1'42.843

  69.275
2 United Kingdom D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK 32 Ford Focus ST 14

+0.006

1'42.849

0.006 69.270
3 United Kingdom D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK 27 Ford Focus ST 13

+0.320

1'43.163

0.314 69.060
4 United Kingdom A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK 1 Ford Focus ST 15

+0.612

1'43.455

0.292 68.865
5 United Kingdom A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 11 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 10

+0.934

1'43.777

0.322 68.651
6 United Kingdom J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 24 BMW 330e M Sport 8

+0.979

1'43.822

0.045 68.621
7 Ireland A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing 40 Vauxhall Astra 14

+1.142

1'43.985

0.163 68.514
8 United Kingdom C. Smiley Restart Racing 222 Cupra León 11

+1.252

1'44.095

0.110 68.441
9 United Kingdom A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 16 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 14

+1.501

1'44.344

0.249 68.278
10 United Kingdom A. Morgan Team BMW 33 BMW 330e M Sport 13

+1.547

1'44.390

0.046 68.248
11 United Kingdom T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors 80 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 15

+1.609

1'44.452

0.062 68.207
12 United Kingdom C. Turkington Team BMW 20 BMW 330e M Sport 13

+1.750

1'44.593

0.141 68.115
13 United Kingdom S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK 77 Ford Focus ST 15

+1.806

1'44.649

0.056 68.079
14
D. Zelos Team Bristol Street Motors
45 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 15

+2.060

1'44.903

0.254 67.914
15
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
29 Cupra León 10

+2.694

1'45.537

0.634 67.506
16
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
18 Cupra León 11

+2.953

1'45.796

0.259 67.341
17
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
22 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 5

+3.496

1'46.339

0.543 66.997
18 United Kingdom J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 66 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 13

+4.230

1'47.073

0.734 66.538
19 United Kingdom T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors 3 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 9

 

   

FP1

   
1
 - 
3
   
Cla Driver # Car Laps Time Interval km/h
1 United Kingdom D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK 27 Ford Focus ST 15

1'41.679

  70.068
2 United Kingdom D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK 32 Ford Focus ST 16

+0.078

1'41.757

0.078 70.014
3 United Kingdom T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors 80 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 13

+0.508

1'42.187

0.430 69.719
4 United Kingdom A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK 1 Ford Focus ST 14

+0.709

1'42.388

0.201 69.582
5 Ireland A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing 40 Vauxhall Astra 11

+0.827

1'42.506

0.118 69.502
6 United Kingdom J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 66 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 13

+1.060

1'42.739

0.233 69.345
7 United Kingdom T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors 3 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 11

+1.086

1'42.765

0.026 69.327
8 United Kingdom A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 11 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 12

+1.125

1'42.804

0.039 69.301
9
M. Doble Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing
88 Vauxhall Astra 13

+1.177

1'42.856

0.052 69.266
10 United Kingdom C. Turkington Team BMW 20 BMW 330e M Sport 13

+1.190

1'42.869

0.013 69.257
11 United Kingdom S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK 77 Ford Focus ST 15

+1.472

1'43.151

0.282 69.068
12 United Kingdom J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport 24 BMW 330e M Sport 10

+1.513

1'43.192

0.041 69.040
13 United Kingdom A. Morgan Team BMW 33 BMW 330e M Sport 13

+1.564

1'43.243

0.051 69.006
14 United Kingdom C. Smiley Restart Racing 222 Cupra León 13

+1.672

1'43.351

0.108 68.934
15 United Kingdom A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ 16 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 14

+1.782

1'43.461

0.110 68.861
16 United Kingdom R. Huff Toyota Gazoo Racing UK 12 Toyota Corolla GR Sport 13

+1.919

1'43.598

0.137 68.770
17
D. De Duckhams Racing with Bartercard
18 Cupra León 13

+1.927

1'43.606

0.008 68.764
18
D. Zelos Team Bristol Street Motors
45 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 14

+2.532

1'44.211

0.605 68.365
19
N. Halstead Team Bristol Street Motors
22 Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance 14

+3.325

1'45.004

0.793 67.849
20
S. Sumpton Restart Racing
29 Cupra León 14

+3.627

1'45.306

0.302 67.654
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