Photo: PSP Images

Dan Cammish heads day one of Snetterton test

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Dan Cammish emerged with the quickest time during the opening day of BTCC testing at Snetterton.

The Team Dynamics driver led the pack in the second session of Wednesday at the wheel of his Honda Civic Type-R to beat morning pace-setter Jack Goff to the fastest time – lapping in a best time of 1m 56.581s.

That was good enough to beat Goff’s older-spec Civic by two-tenths of a second, with Matt Neal completing a Honda 1-2-3 with the third quickest time.

“A day like today is really important for me,” Cammish said. “It’s not often you get a full day in the car and my first season has obviously been a baptism of fire, particularly with the new car not turning a wheel until Media Day in March. The times have been there today, which is great, and we’ve learnt a lot on some longer runs too.”

The two Dynamics drivers were the only front-runners to go quicker during the afternoon session, with Tom Chilton, Andrew Jordan and Rob Austin all using their morning times to complete the top six.

James Cole in the second Motorbase Focus was seventh ahead of Mike Bushell in the first of the Team HARD Volkwagens, with Josh Cook slotting into ninth spot thanks to his afternoon time.

Current points leader Colin Turkington rounded out the top ten despite completing fewer laps across the day than a number of his rivals.

Elsewhere amongst the 27 drivers to appear on track, the returning Tom Onslow-Cole was 18th quickest for Team HARD whilst there was a surprise in the second AmD-run MG6 as Jake Hill hit the track during the afternoon session having announced his departure from Tony Gilham’s Volkswagen squad earlier in the day.

Following a shortened afternoon of running, a further hour of track time was then set aside for Dunlop to conduct a series of test runs with selected cars in order to determine which tyres will be used for the Snetterton race weekend – which will include the extended ‘Diamond Double’ race.

That hour long session would see Chilton’s Ford Focus lead the way with a best time just under a second clear of the Toyota of Tom Ingram, with both drivers completing more than 20 laps of running. Series director Alan Gow would also appear on track at the wheel of the HMS Racing Alfa Romeo during the special Dunlop session – setting a best time ten seconds off Chilton’s pace.