Dan Cammish: “We had to be wary of track limits”

Dan Cammish admitted that ensuring he avoided a penalty for exceeding track limits had probably cost him a first pole of the BTCC season at Thruxton.

The Team Dynamics driver bounced back from power steering failure mid-way through the session to secure a place on the front row of the grid, setting a best time just 0.030s slower than the older FK2 Honda Civic Type R of Cobra Sport AmD’s Sam Tordoff.

Cammish had earlier set the pace in the second free practice session of the weekend in his FK8 Civic despite losing a time to a track limits infringement at the final chicane – something which would prove to be problematic during qualifying.

More than half of the grid would lose at least one timed lap over the course of the session, and Cammish admitted that ensuring he avoided such a penalty himself on his quickest lap had ultimately proved to be key in just missing out on top spot.

“I have five minutes of thinking that P2 is a great result, followed by five minutes thinking that qualifying was a missed opportunity,” he said. “However, to come back from power steering half way through the session and get back out to set the time is great and credit to the guys as they did a brilliant job.

“The speed is in the car and I think I have it in me as well but it was one of those sessions that are just a bit messy. On my first lap, I came across Matt backwards at Church and had to back off, then there was traffic on the next lap and the tyres had gone. With the power steering then going as well, I thought luck had deserted us but we got out again for the final run and made it count.

“I was very conscious about getting pinged for track limits as it’s a bit of a grey area as to where you can and can’t go so I probably drove within myself a bit through the final chicane and that probably cost me pole. I could have really thrown the car in but then I might have lost the lap, so it is what it is. We still have a great chance tomorrow to score some mega points.”

Cammish added that the issue of track limits at the final corner was one that was difficult for drivers on track to judge, unlike at other venues – like Brands Hatch – where technology is used to police the problem.

“We were told there was a judge of fact watching the corner and that if we were too far over the middle or exit kerb, we’d be given a penalty,” he said. “The thing is that I don’t know what is classed as too far and to me, there is a floppy bollard on the inside and if you don’t touch that, then you should be fine.

“The issue comes when those bollards have been moved as you see a straight line as a racing driver and you want to take it; it’s difficult to tell yourself to artificially drive around a corner. I got pinged for it in FP2 and like I said, I could have got done in qualifying if I’d taken a different approach and thrown the car in. We talk about track limits a lot in this series and when you got to a circuit where they use technology to monitor things and can show you video evidence, you know where the line is. Here, it’s a little bit more open to interpretation.”