Cammish’s podium run brought to an end

At Croft last year Dan Cammish’s domination of the Porsche Carrera Cup started in earnest, but a year later he failed to visit the podium in a race for the first time as Dino Zamparelli stormed to a brace of wins.

Cammish took a clean sweep of poles, fastest laps and race wins in 2015, but 2016 had Zamparelli put his name to the same accolades and narrowed Cammish’s championship lead to just three points.

“I knew we had to make a statement,” said Zamparelli. “It’s a pivotal time with it being the midpoint of the season. Those two wins mean we’ve made up for lost ground and got in the mix.”

The GT Marques driver’s charge began as early as testing. A mistake from Cammish damaged his splitter, while Zamparelli set the afternoon pace.

The parallel of opposite fortunes continued in qualifying, with a gearbox issue sidelining Cammish from setting a time higher than fifth and sixth best as his rival took double pole.

That top grid slot would prove key at Croft, as both races were filled with attrition on a circuit with little overtaking options.

Zamparelli was able to hold his lead comfortably through Clervaux and Hawthorn, setting him on his way to a pole-to -flag run for victory ahead of Jonas Gelzinis and Stephen Jelley.

Behind him, Cammish had to contend with the midfield and mustered seventh place.

Cammish could have seen his championship lead of 20 points before the weekend slip away, but he responded strongly in the finale to retain a slender lead.

Once again, Zamparelli held his lead through the opening corners but, despite starting fifth, Cammish was able to pass Tom Sharp late on to take second but the move was too late to reel in and pass the leader.

“Second was a good way to end the weekend after a tough few days,” said Cammish.

“The first race was so difficult, but in the second things went more my way. The important thing is that I still hold the championship lead by three points.”