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BTCC Knockhill: Cammish beats BMWs of Jelley/Jordan for maiden pole

Factory Honda driver Dan Cammish secured his maiden British Touring Car Championship pole position in qualifying for Sunday's races at Knockhill this weekend

The Team Dynamics Civic Type R driver grabbed top slot with four minutes to go in the 30-minute session to eclipse Andrew Jordan (WSR BMW 125i M Sport) and annex the top time by just 0.051 seconds.

The session was stopped in the opening minute as Bobby Thompson's Team Hard VW CC, which had been off the road in the opening practice session and did not take part in the second, stopped with a technical problem.

That dropped oil on the track, bringing the session to a halt as a stretch of the track between the pit exit and Clark's corner was treated, and meant the faster times came at the end of the session.

Cammish, who was stripped of pole position at Brands Hatch at the start of the season for a weighbridge infringement and also narrowly missed out at Snetterton in July, said he was relieved to have finally banked top spot.

"Once I had done the lap, I had the same feeling I had at Brands Hatch where I knew I couldn't have done a better lap," said Cammish.

"Having come so close before, I was wondering what I had to do to snag a pole. It means the world to me."

Cammish's pole, which smashed the previous qualifying benchmark of 51.521s from 2016, came after a battle with the BMWs of Jordan and Stephen Jelley's team Parker Racing-run 125i M Sport. Jelley snatched a front row start on his final lap.

The Leicester racer said: "At other places we have maybe struggled for straight line speed, but there aren't any long straights here.

"The car has been handling brilliantly and I could just romp all over the kerbs.

"I had done some simulator work before I got here and I was in a good mindset, but I am really pleased we have managed to show what we could do."

Jordan was disappointed to be relegated to third in the dying moments, having been the first man to lap the Fife track in under 51s with just five minutes remaining.

"I am disappointed because we left something on the table there," said the 2013 champion.

"I was pleased with the 50.9s, but the session was just scruffy after that with lots of red flags which ruined things for us."

Behind the top three, championship leader Colin Turkington performed excellently to place his WSR BMW 125i M Sport on the second row despite carrying the maximum load of 75kg of success ballast.

Row three will be shared by Chris Smiley (BTC Norlin Honda Civic) and Tom Ingram, who is second in the points and has 66kg on his Toyota Avensis.

Tom Oliphant (Mercedes A-Class) was seventh ahead of defending champion Ash Sutton, with Adam Morgan and Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall driver Josh Cook completing the top 10.

Qualifying result

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 50.929s -
2 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 50.952s 0.023s
3 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 50.980s 0.051s
4 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 51.172s 0.243s
5 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 51.234s 0.305s
6 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 51.236s 0.307s
7 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 51.274s 0.345s
8 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 51.313s 0.384s
9 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 51.343s 0.414s
10 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 51.351s 0.422s
11 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 51.377s 0.448s
12 Ricky Collard WSR BMW 51.381s 0.452s
13 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 51.385s 0.456s
14 Daniel Lloyd BTC Norlin Honda 51.389s 0.460s
15 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 51.390s 0.461s
16 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 51.394s 0.465s
17 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 51.433s 0.504s
18 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 51.502s 0.573s
19 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 51.511s 0.582s
20 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 51.525s 0.596s
21 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 51.575s 0.646s
22 James Cole Motorbase Ford 51.608s 0.679s
23 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 51.664s 0.735s
24 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 51.675s 0.746s
25 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 51.693s 0.764s
26 Matt Simpson Simpson Racing Honda 51.828s 0.899s
27 Glynn Geddie AmD Tuning MG 52.142s 1.213s
28 Carl Boardley Team Hard Volkswagen 52.163s 1.234s
29 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 52.273s 1.344s
30 Ollie Pidgley Team Hard Volkswagen 52.854s 1.925s
31 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen - -


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