Come rain or shine, Cammish continues to win
Even with rain in free practice, qualifying cancelled thanks to snow and two races held in variable conditions, it proved impossible to break the pattern in the Porsche Carrera Cup.
Just as in the Brands Hatch season opener, Dan Cammish led home Dino Zamparelli in both races – the only difference was that the former retained both of his wins having lost one at Brands for a track limits violation.
By the time the first race got underway, uncertainty over whether to run slicks or wets had subsided and the track dried. Unfortunately for second-row starters Tom Sharp and Stephen Jelley, they had headed out for the rolling start on wets unlike the rest of the frontrunners and opted to condemn themselves to a pitlane launch by switching to slicks.
That left the way clear for Cammish and Zamparelli to continue their private battle. Or rather, it should have done, had Zamparelli not got caught up in a scrap with Charlie Eastwood that cost time.
By the time he made Eastwood defend into Stowe and then cut back inside to take second, Cammish was over seven seconds to the good. There were a few moments when it seemed Zamparelli might be able to close the gap, but thanks to his storming early laps in tricky conditions, Cammish always had the race under control.
Sharp and Jelley came through to seventh and eighth respectively, while Redline Racing’s Tom Oliphant recovered from spinning at the first corner to take fifth behind Jonas Gelzinis.
It was a similar story in race two, which was held in far warmer conditions on Sunday morning. Cammish held the lead from pole but this time Zamparelli held on to second. For much of the race, Cammish’s advantage floated between a second and a second-and-a-half but he was never seriously threatened even though the gap at the chequered flag was just under seven-tenths of a second.
Instead, the battle for fourth behind Eastwood was the star attraction. It was a slow burner, with Jelley leading Sharp and Oliphant for much of the race. But it came to life in the final two laps, with Oliphant dispatching first Sharp and then Jelley after running wide out of Copse. Jelley then ran a little wide through Club and Sharp took fifth, becoming fourth after Oliphant receieved a track limits penalty. Up front, Cammish’s results give him a four-point championship lead over Zamparelli. But based on the four races held so far this season, he’s very much looking like the frontrunner in what is set to be a two-horse race for the title.