Halfords Yuasa Racing's Dan Cammish produced one of the best performances of his BTCC career to claim victory in the opening race at Brands Hatch, whilst Laser Tools Racing's Ash Sutton moved ahead of Team BMW's Colin Turkington at the head of the overall standings.
Finals day kicked off amid awful conditions at the famous Kent venue as four of the five title contenders went wheel-to-wheel at the front of the field while reigning champion Turkington was forced to take a back seat in the opener.
Sutton's Infiniti Q50 made the best getaway as he blasted by Rory Butcher's Motorbase Performance Ford Focus off the line, slotting into second behind pole-sitter Tom Ingram, and Cammish was soon into third as he took the wider line through Paddock Hill Bend.
The contest was simmering in the early laps before the Honda of Sam Osborne and VW of Glynn Geddie had a coming together on the run up to Druids on lap seven, bringing about a brief safety car period.
The battle resumed following the restart and the moment of truth came on lap 13 as Cammish squeezed his Honda Civic Type R down the inside of Ingram's Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters' Corolla as the pair climbed the hill towards Druids Hairpin. It was a tense moment as Cammish braked as late as he dared, just about stopping his #27 machine on the run through the slowest corner on the track.
It was a fantastic move and one that saw Cammish largely cruise away... that was until Sutton also took his opportunity to pass Ingram through Surtees. Sutton set the fastest lap as he closed in on Cammish but his challenge came too late.
As the chequered flag fell it was Sutton who has now taken a two point lead over Turkington, whilst Cammish is just 13 points in arrears with another pole position to come for the Honda star in race two. Ingram's solid podium still saw him lose ground in the title fight with Butcher's fourth place forcing him out of overall contention.
Local team beat local driver to fifth place in this contest as Motorbase's Ollie Jackson held off MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill, with Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal taking a relatively lonely seventh.
BTC Racing's Josh Cook passed Turkington following the restart to take eighth, with the latter seemingly struggling for pace in the wet conditions. Turkington's team-mate – Tom Oliphant – rounded out the top ten with the pair unable to extract any more pace from the BMW 3 Series.
All the drama is taking place live on ITV4 with the second race due to commence at 12:32, as the 2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship continues towards its climax later this afternoon.
Dan Cammish said: “It’s all about trying to score as many points as you can, and when you’ve got a car that’s clearly got the potential, you’ve got to use it. In touring cars, you get your moments and you have your days where you can take advantage and you’ve got to. I’ve been in many fights with Tom Ingram this year where he’s had a slight advantage, but this morning, we managed to reverse that. You’ve got to give as good as you get. I’m really pleased with the result, both for myself and for everybody at Team Dynamics. We were quick yesterday and we knew we had a good race car, so I’m really glad we put it to good use. First blood to me, but we’ve got to go back and see if we can improve again because everybody else will.
“After what happened last year, I think my outlook’s probably changed a little bit – you don’t get ahead of yourself until you’re on your way home, halfway up the motorway with the trophy in your hand! Anything can happen in this game and it usually does, as I proved last year! I’m just here to enjoy it. I think sometimes, I get a bit caught up with the pressure and the racing that I forget that I’m in a very privileged position to do what I do. I love what I do, and I hope the fans enjoyed it at home today. I can’t wait to see you all again next year!”
Ash Sutton said: “I felt like we had a very good car at the end of the race – it really came alive. Just before the safety car, it felt like, ‘hang on a minute, I’ve got a car underneath me here’ but then we had to start again and it wasn’t until the latter stages of the race that I had the pace to put a move on Tom [Ingram] and then try and hunt down Dan [Cammish]. The tyres just started to come in – they seemed to take a very long time, but I saw Tom was wounded to some extent and he was falling into my lap. I did play it safe, but if the move was 100 per cent on then I was doing it.”
Tom Ingram said: “The conditions were super tricky in race one, and it seemed like they were changing every lap – we even had another short downpour midway through! We were just struggling with the front tyres and I didn’t really have an answer for Dan [Cammish] or Ash [Sutton] towards the end, but it was pleasing to get a podium nonetheless.”
2020 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 1 – Brands Hatch Indy
1 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing 27 laps
2 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +0.813s
3 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK with Ginsters +3.160s
4 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Motorbase Performance +6.538s
5 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) Motorbase Performance +7.952s
6 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +9.273s
7 Matt NEAL (GBR) Halfords Yuasa Racing +10.164s
8 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing +13.519s
9 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +18.283s
10 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +19.339s
11 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +21.167s
12 Tom CHILTON (GBR) BTC Racing +21.621s
13 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +23.221s
14 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +23.649s
15 Paul RIVETT (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +31.348s
16 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team Parker Racing +31.760s
17 Jack GOFF (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +32.939s
18 Andy NEATE (GBR) Motorbase Performance +36.294s
19 Senna PROCTOR (GBR) Excelr8 Motorsport +38.121s
20 Michael CREES (GBR) The Clever Baggers with BTC Racing +39.758s
21 Brad PHILPOT (GBR) Power Maxed Car Care Racing +42.563s
22 Ethan HAMMERTON (GBR) GKR TradePriceCars.com +45.018s
23 Jack BUTEL (GBR) Carlube TripleR Racing with Mac Tools +45.798s
24 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) HUB Financial Solutions with Team HARD +59.266s
25 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with Team HARD +9 laps
26 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +21 laps
27 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport +21 laps
