MORE TROPHIES
The Motorbase Performance Focus STs have taken more silverware from the second BTCC meeting of the year at Brands Hatch
Dan Cammish got his 2022 BTCC campaign back on track at a wet Brands Hatch recently, after earning two podium finishes and a haul of championship points in the NAPA Racing UK Focus ST.
Taking his first podium result for the Motorbase Performance-run squad in a damp fourth round, Cammish – who had qualified eighth fastest and just 0.2 seconds shy of pole – finished in a terrific third place.
Going one better in a slippery round five, Cammish raced to second position and was tantalisingly just 0.2 seconds shy of the victory, before wrapping up the weekend with another top-ten finish in the final race.
He said, “we were hanging in there and suddenly my car switched on. It really was like a switch flicked; with one more lap I think it could’ve been my win. It’s fantastic to get two podiums and some points on the board. This is the start of my season.”
Cammish’s NAPA Racing UK teammate Ash Sutton overturned a very tough qualifying to secure a great haul of points on race day, and maintain third in the championship. Sutton stormed through from 18th on the grid to finish an impressive ninth in race one. The reigning champion then moved from ninth to fourth place in the second race, and then took sixth in the final round of the weekend.
On the other side of the Motorbase garage, Ollie Jackson achieved a pair of points results with a season-best 14th for the Apec Racing
With Beavis Morgan entry in the second race of the day, before bettering it with a very competitive top-12 finish in the final.
In the sister red-and-black Focus, Sam Osborne took the flag in race one just behind Jackson in 24th spot, and improved in race two with a top-20 finish. Racing well in the final race, Osborne was into 18th position by lap seven and after some mid-race position changing, he reclaimed the place.
The BTCC heads to Thruxton for rounds seven, eight and nine on 28/29 May, but sadly this issue goes to press just before then, so you’ll have to wait until next month for the full update from the Hampshire circuit, along with the report on rounds 10, 11 and 12 from Oulton Park on 11/12 June.
If the previous two sprint rounds at Oulton Park were about outright pace, the prestigious Silverstone 500 is an endurance round where strategy plays a greater role. For Silverstone, the Mustang was prescribed a small but helpful change to its balance-of-performance parameters, giving the Academy Motorsport team even more reason to be optimistic ahead of the three-hour event.
The team’s new-for-2022 driver Marco Signoretti had never previously driven the full Grand Prix circuit, but there was no cause for concern, as Marco had the full track mastered during Friday’s practice when the Mustang was the fastest of the participating GT4 cars.
Signoretti and teammate Matt Cowley were impressive in qualifying, taking a front-row starting position on combined times. Racing on Sunday was robust, and Signoretti was rudely but uncharacteristically punted into a spin by a BMW at Stowe corner on the opening lap. It was quite a thump, which caved in the right rear quarter panel and crushed the diffuser. Fortunately, the damage was more cosmetic than functional.
With no time-fixed pit-stop windows and a maximum 100 minutes of drive time per driver, the Silverstone 500 offered plenty of scope for differing strategies. Some teams ran long opening stints, while others ran short opening stints, allowing them to claw back time on lower fuel and fresh tyres.
Signoretti recovered remarkably well, and he and Cowley were able to fight their way back through the field to take fourth in
GT4 after a post-race 40-second penalty for causing a collision was applied to the BMW. This handed the final GT4 silver class podium position back to the Academy Mustang.
Team principal Matt Nicoll-Jones said, “Overall, a really good weekend. Other than having been turned around on track, we could not have asked for any more, and the car performed perfectly.
“Our pace was good, we learned a lot about the new tyres and we are now in a very nice position going into Donington.”
Points-and-a-half were awarded for the first time this year. The three-hour format continues next time out at Donington Park on 28-29 May. Sadly, this issue goes to press before then, but we will bring you all the action next month.