Dan Cammish is very much back in the game after a brilliant first race of the final day of BTCC action at Brands Hatch to go only seven points behind Colin Turkington going into Race Two.
Cammish had a frustrating day yesterday in qualifying finishing 12th but as the rain started to fall, the Halfords Yuasa Racing driver drove to perfection passing Rory Butcher for the race lead going into Paddock Hill Bend on Lap 16. Even more superbly was that he was on slick tyres in the wet.
It all began on Lap 10 after an earlier crash from Matt Simpson saw an extended safety car, a lot of the drivers towards the back such as Jason Plato, Matt Neal, Bobby Thompson and Adam Morgan decided to pit despite not knowing whether the rain would stay and giving themselves a potential lifeline.
Colin Turkington, still the BTCC Drivers Championship leader was in the top three for most of the race but he didn’t decide to pit and like many other drivers in that top ten; no matter how hard he fought, the drivers who were on the wets finally caught up to him in the end.
The real spoiler though was Matt Neal, team-mate of course to Dan Cammish at Halfords Yuasa Racing who carried Tom Chilton with him through past the Team BMW Racing driver to potentially hand a hammer blow so early on.
This was made worse for Turkington with Neal pipping Rory Butcher on the line for second place meaning the front row will be made up of the Honda duo of Dan Cammish and Matt Neal which could see the former go into the championship lead.
Another BMW drivers’ title chances that were dealt a blow was Andrew Jordan with Stephen Jelley also claiming a place over him on the line meaning he finished in eighth place in the end.
Josh Cook, one of the drivers who was still in the hunt for the title but more so the independents also had a horrific race and will now have a day of catch up. His BTC Norlin Racing teammate Chris Smiley too ended up not finishing the race.
British Touring Car Championship Round 28 – Brands Hatch Results in Full
| POS | DRIVER | TEAM | CAR | TIME |
| 1 | Dan Cammish | Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 18 laps |
| 2 | Matt Neal | Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | +7.882s |
| 3 | Tom Chilton | Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | +8.306s |
| 4 | Rory Butcher | Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | +8.624s |
| 5 | Colin Turkington | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | +10.370s |
| 6 | Mike Bushell | Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid/RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | +11.057s |
| 7 | Stephen Jelley | Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | +11.916s |
| 8 | Andrew Jordan | BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | +12.634s |
| 9 | Jack Goff | RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | +14.878s |
| 10 | Ollie Jackson | Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | +15.919s |
| 11 | Ashley Sutton | Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | +19.416s |
| 12 | Michael Caine | Motorbase Performance | Ford Focus RS | +25.511s |
| 13 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Infiniti Q50 | +26.312s |
| 14 | Jason Plato | Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | +27.361s |
| 15 | Rob Collard | Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | +29.571s |
| 16 | Tom Oliphant | Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | +31.589s |
| 17 | Carl Boardley | RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | +33.187s |
| 18 | Daniel Rowbottom | Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes A Class | +33.518s |
| 19 | Adam Morgan | Mac Tools Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes A Class | +36.676s |
| 20 | Rob Smith | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG6 | +45.426s |
| 21 | Bobby Thompson | GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | +45.831s |
| 22 | Mark Blundell | TradePriceCars | Audi S3 | +52.080s |
| 23 | Tom Ingram | Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | +1 lap |
| 24 | Jake Hill | TradePriceCars | Audi S3 | +1 lap |
| 25 | Michael Crees | GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | +1 lap |
| DNF | Chris Smiley | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | |
| DNF | Senna Proctor | Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | |
| DNF | Josh Cook | BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | |
| DNF | Sam Osborne | Excelr8 Motorsport | MG6 | |
| DNF | Matt Simpson | Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R |
