Dan Cammish took his third Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory of the season by winning the opening race of the day at Silverstone. However, it wasn’t easy as he had to hold off Tom Ingram for much of the race.
As the lights went out both drivers made good getaways but Cammish struggled on the opening lap with cold tyres and Ingram scythed down the inside to take the lead at Becketts. Cammish was aggressive in his response and snatched the lead back further around the lap at Brooklands. Rory Butcher recovered from a poor start to reclaim third by the end of the first lap.
Further back, Ash Sutton ran side by side with Tom Oliphant for a number of corners but could not quite find a way through into fifth position. Although this changed when Oliphant retired later in the race with damaged suspension having taken too much curb at Copse.
On lap three, Colin Turkington got his nose down the inside of Butcher at Woodcote and the two cars made contact. Butcher held the slide whilst Turkington’s lost momentum didn’t quite cost him fourth as team-mate Oliphant slotted in behind him.
On lap five, the safety car was deployed to recover Michael Crees’ Honda after he ended up in the gravel trap following an incident with James Gornall.
Just as the Safety Car boards went out, Ingram got alongside Cammish at Luffield and the two crossed the line side by side with Ingram appearing to be narrowly in front. However, the stewards adjudged Ingram to have overtaken under Safety Car conditions and the positions were reversed.
At the restart, Ingram continued to pressurise Cammish but try as he might he couldn’t find a way through. With eight laps remaining, Cammish made a slight break from Ingram as the Toyota driver’s tyres appeared to go off. That effectively settled the race in the Honda driver’s favour and he took the flag by a second from Ingram.
Butcher was third after resisting race-long pressure from Turkington and Sutton. Turkington just held fourth despite a last lap challenge from Sutton who was forced to settle for fifth.
Adam Morgan was sixth ahead of the Hondas of Jake Hill and Matt Neal who finished nose to tail.
Stephen Jelley finished ninth having started 14th on the grid, with Josh Cook rounding out the top ten.
Jade Edwards, the first female driver in the series for 13 years, had run as high as 20th but was forced to settle for 23rd at the flag having been punted wide by Andy Neate late in the race.
The second race will be broadcast live on ITV2 at 2:45.
