Josh Cook wins Thruxton BTCC Race to Pole

Credit: BTCC

The qualifying race got underway with Speedworks Josh Cook on pole ahead of Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram. Drivers were on the Hard compound tyre, after using the Medium tyre in the regular qualifying session. Everyone got away cleanly, with Cook maintaining the lead through turn one. Ingram looked to get past the Toyota in the opening corners, but had to settle for second as the battles began further in the pack. Then came the NAPA Racing UK trio of Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton and Senna Proctor. Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan completed the top six.

At the end of lap one, the safety car was deployed as Ricky Collard stopped on track, without any visible damage it appeared to be a mechanical issue for his Hyundai. Gordon Shedden enjoyed a good start, climbing up four places to seventh. The race would get restarted on lap four as Cook held the pack as long as he could. The top four remained the same as Morgan overtook Proctor for fifth. Lewis Gilbert appeared to make contact on the restart, picking up front end damage.

Two additional laps were added due to the safety car, bringing the total race laps to 14. Sutton then moved past Cammish for third as Rainford, Gilbert, Ryan Bensley and Nicolas Hamilton entered the pit lane. The battles intensified down the order, including a fierce battle between Tom Chilton, Mikey Doble and James Dorlin. Morgan fell down the order to seventh after going through the grass on the exit of turn one.

Cook continued to lead ahead of Ingram, with the pair breaking away from the chasing pack behind. Shedden and Morgan continued to battle for sixth as Dan Rowbottom then joined the battle, fighting hard with his teammate as the race went onto lap eight. The leading margin had now grown to over a second between Cook and Ingram

Credit: BTCC

Shedden remained in sixth as Rowbottom moved into seventh, demoting Morgan to eighth. Heading onto lap 11, Sutton was beginning to edge closer to the top two, but the gap appeared too big to close in the final laps. Rowbottom then ran wide on the exit of Church corner, only losing the position to Morgan, allowing Chilton to close in on the Plato Racing Mercedes. Chilton however, then slowed on the penultimate lap, appearing to suffer from a mechanical issue and fell quickly down the order.

A dominating drive from Cook, winning the Race to Pole, adding to his impressive ten wins around Thruxton. The podium was completed by Ingram and Sutton, followed by Cammish, Proctor, Shedden, Morgan and Rowbottom. The top ten was completed by Doble and James Dorlin. Then came Árón Taylor-Smith, Chris Smiley, Aiden Moffat, Dexter Patterson and Daryl DeLeon. The running order was completed by Lewis Selby.

Chilton was classified a lap down ahead of Rainford who returned after a visit to the pit lane. Hamilton, Bensley and Gilbert however, did not return to the race. Collard retired on the opening lap. Cook will start race one tomorrow from pole position.

Race one gets underway at 11:45 local time tomorrow, followed by race two and three at 14:40 and 17:30 respectively.