Honda’s Dan Cammish was happy to settle for third in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Snetterton, after finding himself unable to challenge front-runners Jack Goff and Ash Sutton in the wet.
Cammish started the race from second on the grid, but the Leeds racer lost out to the fast-starting Subaru of Ash Sutton on the opening lap when he passed the Civic at the third corner.
He then dropped back from the leading battle in the wet race, but was able to hold on to the final podium position thanks to having superior pace over Power Maxed Racing’s Josh Cook in fourth.
Cammish admits that he was happy to settle for third, telling TouringCars.Net that he was focussed on taking a solid points finish, which sees him move up to 12th overall in the championship standings with his third podium of the season.
“I think that third is about as well as it could have panned out,” said Cammish. “I made a couple of mistakes in the middle and let them get away – and I think to be honest it was a case of ‘what have I got to lose and gain here’?
“I could gain two points if I chased Ash, or I could lose 16 points if I put it in the gravel and have to start last [in race two].
“So, once I was in third and there was a small gap in front and a large gap behind, it was third all day long. There was no chance I was interested in really getting involved in that [battle for the lead].
“I was obviously hoping those two would have a bit of a ding-doing on the last lap and give me a chance, but points make prizes. I want to be at the front for the next one.”
Cammish admits that he was still learning about the Civic in the wet conditions, with the new Type R having done little wet running so far this year.
“I’ve got to learn all of the time. It’s my first time driving this track in these conditions and I’m still very much a rookie in this touring car game, especially in the wet which we’ve done very little of.
“The car’s brand new and for me that’s a good result, so we’ll go back, have a look and come back again in the next one.”
With further rain forecast during the day, Cammish added that the conditions were very difficult, as he fought to keep his car on the tarmac.
“It’s incredibly tricky. It’s as lairy as you want it to be. Ash was sideways everywhere – he’s obviously got a lot of confidence and been doing it a long time, but you’re one second from being hero to zero and I wasn’t prepared to put it in the gravel over two points, not today.
“Obviously as it ramps up I’ll take more risk, but in that one it was about consolidating the rest of the weekend.
“I’m going to have some weight [in race two] and that might affect the car good or bad, but for sure I’ll be definitely putting what I’ve just learnt into good practice.
“We’ll put it all together in the next one and see where we end up.”