Josh Cook cemented his standing because the ‘King of Thruxton’ by main from pole to the chequered flag within the Hampshire speedbowl’s British Touring Car Championship qualifying race.
Cook planted his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport firmly on pole place and, owing to no restriction on TOCA Turbo Boost as a consequence of his eighth place within the championship, the red-headed West Countryman was a clear favorite for the race.
Reigning champion Tom Ingram put his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback on the entrance row, regardless of having fun with solely three seconds per lap of TTB to the 20s of Cook, however the present collection runner-up had the luck of the draw – he was in decidedly the weaker of the 2 qualifying teams, which he topped, however was slower than the highest three within the different cut up.
By distinction, runaway factors chief Ash Sutton was within the ‘group of death’ in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium, restricted to only 1s per lap of TTB. He set a lap time simply 0.016s slower than Ingram’s, however would begin seventh.
Cook bought away in entrance, however the race was quickly put below the protection automotive to retrieve the stranded Excelr8 Hyundai of Ricky Collard from the Complex.
At the restart, Cook step by step inched away from Ingram, and with six laps remaining had prolonged his main margin to over a second. The man who had received no fewer than 10 BTCC races at Thruxton added an eleventh (albeit half-points) to his haul, crossing the end line 1.072s to the great.
Josh Cook, Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport
Photo by: JEP
“It’s what we needed,” stated Cook. “I’m happy with the quantity of effort the crew have put in, and I’m glad we’ve managed to get the beginning of a good end result for them. It was a magnificence to drive.
“Tom had a good go at the start – he gave me a bump and that got me going! I just had to manage the gap – the car was a bit lively and we had some moments.”
Sutton bought previous Mikey Doble off the startline, then leapfrogged ‘supersub’ Alliance Ford team-mate Senna Proctor plus Adam Morgan on the Complex to maneuver into fourth.
Just over a lap after the restart, he pulled off a terrific dive on the sister Alliance Ford of Dan Cammish at Segrave to maneuver into third.
Cammish and Proctor accomplished a 3-4-5 for the yellow-and-blue Focus saloons, whereas Gordon Shedden had his Laser Tools-liveried Speedworks Toyota on Proctor’s bumper to return residence sixth.
After the race, Shedden was hit with a five-second penalty for weaving after the protection automotive lights went out, dropping him to eighth.
Josh Cook, Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport
Photo by: JEP
The Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon pair each benefited, with Morgan making the most of a grassy second for Dan Rowbottom at Church on the eleventh lap of 14 to take sixth after Shedden’s penalty.
With Tom Chilton dropping out of ninth on the penultimate lap with electrical issues on his Excelr8 Hyundai, that moved up Doble (Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon) and James Dorlin (Restart Racing Hyundai) to the ultimate positions within the prime 10.
BTCC Thruxton – Qualifying race outcomes
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