Dan Cammish paces first practice before Donington Park shunt

Dan Cammish set the pace for NAPA Racing UK in the opening BTCC free practice session of the weekend at Donington Park, but a sizeable shunt has now put the remainder of his weekend in doubt.

The first session around the full GP circuit had already been affected by a red flag caused by Mikey Doble’s Vauxhall Astra stopping at turn one, and would then be brought to an early conclusion when Cammish – who had just set the fastest lap of the session – went off at McLeans.

The Ford Focus would make heavy contact with the tyres and suffered extensive damage to the rear end, with Cammish taken to the medical centre for precautionary checks but reported by the Motorbase-run team to be okay.

His car however will now be examined by the team to determine whether or not repairs can be carried out in order to allow Cammish to return to action, with early indications not appearing to be positive.

Cammish’s time prior to the accident had put him four-tenths of a second clear of Tom Chilton’s Bristol Street Motors with EXCELR8 Hyundai as he replicated the strong pace he showed in the Goodyear tyre test at the circuit during the summer break, with points leader Ash Sutton slotting into third spot.

Ricky Collard’s Toyota was fourth quickest ahead of Colin Turkington, with the top six rounded out by Rory Butcher.

Josh Cook was the best of the One Motorsport Hondas back in 16th as the team tackled the GP layout for the first time having not taken part in the summer test, putting the current Independents’ points leader three spots behind EXCELR8’s Ronan Pearson – who also didn’t take part in the test.

Aside from Cammish’s shunt, the main news from the session was an issue for defending champion Tom Ingram, who saw his session ended early when he lost the left rear wheel of his car at the Old Hairpin before setting a time.