Cammish beats Ingram to claim pole

Dan Cammish pipped Tom Ingram at Snetterton to claim his second British Touring Car Championship pole position of the season.

But while Cammish provided joy for the Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus ST ensemble, there was concern too after the Yorkshireman’s championship leading team-mate Ash Sutton was forced out of the six-car Q3 shootout by an apparent electrical problem.

It looked like a battle between Cammish, Sutton and Ingram through the opening two phases of qualifying.

Sutton, despite being allowed just one second per lap of TOCA Turbo Boost owing to his pre-weekend position of championship leader, shaded the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback of Ingram by a mere 0.002 seconds in their first segment group, while Cammish topped the other.

Ingram himself had only three seconds per lap of TTB, but he edged out Sutton in Q2 by 0.134s. Cammish was just 0.001s adrift of Sutton, but this lap was deleted for track limits and he had to progress to the Quick Six with his next best effort.

Sutton, who had already been towed back to the pits after FP2 when his car stopped at the end of the session, had also ground to a halt on track in Q2 before enacting a reset on the Focus.

But, as the field went on their first hot laps in Q3, the car stopped again on the approach to the esses, causing a red flag.

Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

By this time Cammish, on 13s per lap of TTB, had just inched ahead of Ingram by 0.030s, and there were no improvements among the top four once the session restarted.

For Cammish, it was a relief after his heartbreak of Brands Hatch, where he accidentally switched off the Ford’s engine behind the safety car while in a prime position to win.

“This one means the world to me,” he said. “After the last round, there’s no better way to bounce back. I’ve got a fantastic car underneath me and I’m proud of myself for putting that behind me and coming out swinging.”

Dan Rowbottom made it three Alliance Fords in the shootout and the bearded Midlander ended up taking third on the grid, with Mikey Doble joining him on the second row in his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra.

The Excelr8 Hyundai of Adam Morgan will line up fifth, with Sutton just behind after not setting a lap time in Q3.

Best of the Q2 runners not to make the final phase was Dan Lloyd, who took seventh in his Restart Racing Hyundai ahead of the One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R of Josh Cook.

Completing the top 10 were Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) and rookie James Dorlin in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport.

After the team’s triple win at Brands Hatch, qualifying was a disaster for West Surrey Racing and its fleet of BMW 330i M Sports.

Only Charles Rainford made it into Q2, where he beat Chris Smiley (Restart Hyundai) to 11th. Reigning champion Jake Hill, on 5s per lap of TTB, lacked pace and also had an off after locking up into the Esses, so he will start from the 10th row of the grid.

BTCC Snetterton – Qualifying results

Results to follow