Cammish snatches pole from Cook in tight Thruxton qualifying

Dan Cammish pips Josh Cook to the Thruxton pole, while BTCC title contenders Colin Turkington and Tom Ingram struggled further down the order.

Simon Evans

27 Aug 2022

Dan Cammish (GBR) - NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus

NAPA Racing UK's Dan Cammish has clinched his first British Touring Car Championship pole position in Ford colours after snatching the top-spot away from Josh Cook at Thruxton.

With both Cammish and Cook setting a 1'15.3s lap before the halfway mark of the session, there was little to choose between the duo as the 30-minute shootout neared its conclusion.

However, with less than five-minutes to go, Cammish produced a sensational lap to dip beneath Cook's benchmark by just 0.017s to secure his first BTCC pole position since joining the Motorbase Performance Ford outfit.

Having often shown flashes of the form which almost took him to the 2019 BTCC drivers' title, Cammish has endured a so far difficult 2022 campaign, which has often been riddled with bad luck.

BTC Racing's Cook, who has also suffered his fair share of misfortune since leading the early points standings, was unable to respond to Cammish's last gasp flyer.

ROKiT MB Motorsport's Jake Hill was BMW's best placed driver in third position, with championship leader Colin Turkington enduring a miserable session in 15th position.

Hill shares the front-row with defending champion Ash Sutton in fourth position. In the dying minutes of the session, Sutton looked on course to threaten Cammish's pole-time after the Ford Focus driver set the quickest second sector.

However, just moments later, Sutton slipped off the circuit on the exit of Church corner, putting an end to any hope of usurping his NAPA Racing team mate.

FP2 pacesetter Gordon Shedden couldn't quite replicate his practice form and settled for fifth ahead of an impressive team performance from Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall duo Ash Hand and Michael Crees in sixth and seventh.

Dan Rowbottom set the eighth fastest time qualifying aboard his Team Dynamics Honda Civic Type-R, while Tom Chilton and Ricky Collard completed the remainder of the top-ten in ninth and tenth.

Elsewhere, two-time champion Jason Plato missed on the top-ten by the closest margin possible after setting an identical time to Collard in tenth.

Surprisingly, title contenders Tom Ingram and Colin Turkington could fare no better than 13th and 15th.