Dan Cammish grabs pole in chaotic Brands qualifying

Dan Cammish grabbed his first pole of the BTCC season in a chaotic qualifying session at Brands Hatch.

A drama-filled Q1 session would include numerous stoppages as drivers were forced to try and battle with the conditions as persistent rain continued to fall.

The first red flag came early on when Nick Halstead was tipped into a spin at Paddock Hill Bend after a slight touch from George Gamble’s Toyota, with the second coming when Nic Hamilton also suffered a spin at Paddock and was then collected by Adam Morgan when he pirouetted off at the same point.

Only minutes after the action has resumed, Will Powell was the next to go off – sliding off into the tyres at Druids to bring out the red flag for a third time.

The remainder of the session would run through to the end although there were multiple cases of drivers running off track – with Sam Osborne clattering the tyres at the final corner and both Colin Turkington and Rory Butcher amongst those running wide.

Jake Hill topped the first stage of qualifying with his final lap of the session to secure his place in the top ten shootout ahead of Ash Sutton and Turkington, with Cammish and Rory Butcher behind – the latter only managing to sneak in right at the death with his final lap of the session.

Tom Ingram was sixth best from Bobby Thompson and Josh Cook, with Dan Lloyd and Ronan Pearson completing the ten to make it through.

Butcher’s late lap knocked Tom Chilton out as he ended up eleventh best with a time just 0.001s behind Pearson, with Ricky Collard arguably the biggest casualty as he could only manage 14th despite running well in the top ten in practice.

Of note, Jack Butel qualified just ahead of the Toyota in 13th – his best qualifying result to date.

The top ten showdown would end in dramatic fashion as Cammish left it until the final lap to snare pole – edging ahead of Turkington on his final tour to give Motorbase a second straight pole position.

Turkington’s second spot was a strong showing from the BMW man in conditions that haven’t always favoured the car, with Hill and Sutton sharing the second row.

Butcher would take fifth spot from Thompson, with Ingram and Cook on row four – the latter suffering a spin in the closing seconds. Lloyd and Pearson completed the top ten.