Halfords Yuasa Racing’s Dan Cammish admitted he didn’t expect to secure pole position by such a margin after edging out Tom Ingram by nearly two tenths in qualifying for the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone.
The 2019 runner-up managed his second successive pole position in a rain-affected session in which he continued to improve throughout, setting the first representative time of the front-wheel drive runners after an initial red flag before bettering his time in the final third of the session.
In what is usually a tight qualifying session on the short 1.6-mile National layout, remarkably Cammish managed to secure pole by the largest margin of the season so far, an achievement he told ITV he was not expecting.
“It is a really good result, I don’t really know where that came from. I kind of expected to do a similar lap to what I’d done in FP2 on the better tyre, but the weather was a bit up and down to be honest,” said Cammish.
“There was certainly spots of rain and I just stuck at it, I kept going on the second set longer than maybe some did and the lap sort of appeared.
“The thing here is there’s so much traffic as well, you never quite know when you’re going to get your moment. I just managed to put it together and there it was, I still think there is something in there that maybe slightly better but it’s so hard to get out.
“One lap you’re too far over the limit one way and under the limit the next. The thing with Silverstone is it’s a bit like a Brands Hatch Indy lap, you’re looking for hundredths all the time and that’s the difference. A bit of a bigger margin than I expected but a very pleasing one!”
With other teams on the grid opting to use the slipstream to their advantage, Cammish admitted he and Team Dynamics stablemate Matt Neal instead decided to run their own sessions, preferring to “get their heads down” due to the risk of losing time if the tow is not executed to perfection.
“The thing is it’s very blustery, it is gusting out there, so maybe a tow is going to help,” he explained.
“But it also compromises you if the guy in front doesn’t quite get out of the way in time or takes your eye off the ball for the braking zone, that half a tenth you’ve just gained you can quite easily give back.
“So we didn’t really aim for a tow this session, we just wanted to get our heads down and do it.”
Questioned as to whether his start at Thruxton – in which he lost the lead to fellow front-row starter Tom Ingram – will be playing on his mind, Cammish says he has to forget it and have a “clean slate” heading into the trio of races tomorrow.
“I think I’ve got to forget. I’ve made some great starts in a touring car and I’ve made some bad ones – they were the bad ones.
“Ultimately that bit is down to me, just a bit of a fluff and Tom did a great job on his start. I don’t want to dwell on it, I don’t want to get caught up on thinking there’s an issue anywhere, I just want to have a clean slate and have another go tomorrow.”
The opening British Touring Car Championship race at Silverstone is scheduled to get underway at 11:27 BST tomorrow.