With the Berkshire-domiciled Yorkshireman’s Ford Focus ST already southbound on the M1 en route back to Motorbase Performance’s Kent premises after his hefty FP1 shunt, the second session began with angry black clouds looming beyond the Melbourne loop.
Times had got down to around a second away from the early-morning session as competitors built up speed, but then the rain arrived, precluding any further improvements.
Cammish had set two laps good enough for the fastest time in FP1, the best of them 0.402 seconds clear of the Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N of Tom Chilton.
FP1 had already been red-flagged midway through when Mikey Doble suffered a line lock on his front brakes, causing his Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall Astra to make contact with the barriers at Redgate.
There was more drama upon the resumption: championship leader Ash Sutton looped his Motorbase Ford into a spin at the Old Hairpin, and a minute later reigning champion Tom Ingram’s Excelr8 Hyundai revolved through the gravel at the same turn.
A left-rear wheelhub failure on the Hyundai had caused the wheel to become detached – while that harmlessly hit the tyre wall, Ingram was forced to park on the grass on the exit.
The corner remained under waved yellow flags for the rest of the session, under which Cammish set the best of his two quick laps, indicating that no one has really got close to their potential yet.
Sutton ended up third in the times ahead of the Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla of Ricky Collard, four-time champion Colin Turkington’s West Surrey Racing BMW 330e M Sport, and Rory Butcher (Speedworks Toyota).
Source: Autosport