DAN Cammish says he aims for further success at Oulton Park in just over a week’s time, after claiming a third podium finish of the year at Croft.
The fourth round of the British Touring Car Championship in the North East brought another good outing for Halfords Yuasa Racing Team Dynamics, in a round that was blighted by the unfavourable weather conditions.
Cammish took a third in race two, where he recorded a fastest lap time of 1:22.868, with Matt Neal taking a fourth in the same race, and a fifth in race three.
An improved performance in the later races made up for a disappointing qualifying session, in which Cammish finished in seventh, and Neal down in 13th.
Cammish admits that the weather prevented him from potentially challenging for pole position on his home circuit.
“It’s been a pretty good weekend on the whole despite the disappointment of qualifying – in a dry, normal session I think I could have challenged for pole position,” he said.
“But it wasn’t to be and I was lucky to line up seventh.
“In race one I went forward, I was happy with sixth and after making some changes I went even better in race two to get another podium.
“In race 3 there was not much more I could have done.”
He now aims for success in the fifth round, where he believes he can go one better.
“I like Oulton Park, I believe I’ve come a long way as a driver since last year’s meeting,” said Cammish.
“I got here with high hopes we can get stuck in at the front.”
The duo were determined to put the qualifying session behind them, and knew that their performances had not been to the same standard that their practice sessions had demonstrated.
With rain continuing to fall in race one, Cammish mounted a push for the top six after a battle with a pack of drivers, eventually finishing sixth, whilst Neal jumped into tenth at the flag.
As the temperatures began to improve slightly, the two Honda drivers believed they could make further progress in race two.
And so it proved, as Cammish came out on top in a battle with rivals Ashley Sutton and Chris Smiley to finish in the third and final podium place.
Neal meanwhile passed Jason Plato to eventually finish behind his team-mate in fourth.
Going into the final race, both switched to wet tyres with another shower approaching, leading to both drivers getting away well.
But as the track dried, their push higher up the rankings slowed, with Neal finishing above his team-mate for the first time on the day in fifth, and Cammish finishing down in tenth – after recovering from a brief excursion off the track.
Neal says many positives can be taken from the round, despite the slow start for the team.
“It proved a case of making something of the weekend after the qualifying issues, which affected a lot of people,” he said.
“The car has been fast all weekend – especially through the quick corners – and we had to try and claw back to where we should have been. It’s so tight round here and everyone knows how to defend.
“Race two was good and the car was fast in clean air – finishing fourth behind Dan was great.
“Then in race three I felt I could challenge the two in front, but lost the front tyres after the safety car period.
He now looks forward to getting back on the Oulton Park track, a circuit he has found great success on in the past.
