Honda Civic Type R drivers Dan Cammish and Josh Cook bolstered their Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) title chances with race wins at Thruxton. Sam Tordoff also had a strong weekend, taking a win in his older-spec Civic Type R.
Tordoff set the pace in qualifying on the BTCC’s previous visit to Thruxton in May, and the AmD racer duly did so again on his return to the track. With Tordoff unable to convert his first pole position into a win, he was determined to put that right in the opening race, making a strong start to quickly pull out a lead on the Vauxhall Astra of fellow front-row starter Jason Plato.
Plato’s promising start quickly went awry when he was judged to have lined up ahead of his pit box on the grid, which resulted in a drive-through penalty that dropped him down the order. Cammish moved up to second in his newer-shape works Honda, chased throughout by Adam Morgan (Mercedes-Benz A-Class), Cook and Tom Oliphant (BMW 3 Series).
Tordoff made another excellent start in race two, quickly opening up a clear lead while Morgan and Cook jumped past the slow-starting Cammish. But Tordoff soon began to struggle with maximum success ballast, and when he slid a bit exiting the ultra-fast Church corner on the fourth lap, he was overtaken by Cook to his left and Morgan to his right.
Cook took the lead, the BTC Racing driver pulling out a gap to Morgan that he held to the end.
Tordoff held onto third for a few more laps, with a big queue of cars forming behind him, but his valiant efforts were to little effect as he eventually slipped to tenth. That put Oliphant up into third, but Matt Neal was on a charge in his works Civic Type R and snatched the final podium spot with a late-braking lunge at the chicane on the final lap. Cammish took fifth.
Rob Collard (Vauxhall Astra) finished sixth and drew pole ahead of Cammish for the final race of the day. But the Honda man again made a slow start, with Oliphant jumping to second and putting pressure on Collard.
Cammish kept his cool, closing in on the two cars ahead of him and battling back into second as rain began to fall. That made conditions treacherous, and when Collard slid wide on lap 10, Cammish got a run heading into the final chicane and took the lead.
Collard recovered to hold second, while Neal again put on a late charge to take third ahead of Morgan.
Championship leader Colin Turkington and Andrew Jordan both had quiet weekends, struggling to find pace in their 3 Series cars and taking a best result of ninth and seventh respectively.
Turkington now leads Jordan by 30 points, with Cammish four points further back and Cook a further four points adrift.
The next event is at Knockhill in Scotland on 15 September.
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