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

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
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	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32		Ford Focus ST	14	+0.006 1'42.849	0.006	69.270
3	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus ST	13	+0.320 1'43.163	0.314	69.060
4	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	1		Ford Focus ST	15	+0.612 1'43.455	0.292	68.865
5	A. Watson Toyota Gazoo Racing UK	11		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	10	+0.934 1'43.777	0.322	68.651
6	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	24		BMW 330e M Sport	8	+0.979 1'43.822	0.045	68.621
7	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	40		Vauxhall Astra	14	+1.142 1'43.985	0.163	68.514
8	C. Smiley Restart Racing	222		Cupra León	11	+1.252 1'44.095	0.110	68.441
9	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	16		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+1.501 1'44.344	0.249	68.278
10	A. Morgan Team BMW	33		BMW 330e M Sport	13	+1.547 1'44.390	0.046	68.248
11	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors	80		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	15	+1.609 1'44.452	0.062	68.207
12	C. Turkington Team BMW	20		BMW 330e M Sport	13	+1.750 1'44.593	0.141	68.115
13	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	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	66		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+4.230 1'47.073	0.734	66.538
19	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors	3		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	9
View full results

FP1

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK	27		Ford Focus ST	15	1'41.679		70.068
2	D. Rowbottom NAPA Racing UK	32		Ford Focus ST	16	+0.078 1'41.757	0.078	70.014
3	T. Ingram Team Bristol Street Motors	80		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	13	+0.508 1'42.187	0.430	69.719
4	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK	1		Ford Focus ST	14	+0.709 1'42.388	0.201	69.582
5	A. Taylor-Smith Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing	40		Vauxhall Astra	11	+0.827 1'42.506	0.118	69.502
6	J. Cook LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	66		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	13	+1.060 1'42.739	0.233	69.345
7	T. Chilton Team Bristol Street Motors	3		Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	11	+1.086 1'42.765	0.026	69.327
8	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	C. Turkington Team BMW	20		BMW 330e M Sport	13	+1.190 1'42.869	0.013	69.257
11	S. Osborne NAPA Racing UK	77		Ford Focus ST	15	+1.472 1'43.151	0.282	69.068
12	J. Hill Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	24		BMW 330e M Sport	10	+1.513 1'43.192	0.041	69.040
13	A. Morgan Team BMW	33		BMW 330e M Sport	13	+1.564 1'43.243	0.051	69.006
14	C. Smiley Restart Racing	222		Cupra León	13	+1.672 1'43.351	0.108	68.934
15	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ	16		Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	+1.782 1'43.461	0.110	68.861
16	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
View full results