Cook and his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R spent most of the race under enormous pressure from the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport of Jake Hill, only for a spin by the Kentishman on the penultimate lap to allow Dan Cammish through into second place and push Cook to the finish.
Hill, from fourth on the grid, was able to use the traction of his rear-wheel-drive BMW to burst through to second and briefly threaten Cook in a race that started on a damp track, with the whole field on wet-weather Goodyears.
By quarter-distance Hill was right behind Cook, but at halfway the redheaded West Countryman pulled a gap of just over a second.
Hill then got his head down and, with eight laps remaining, was right with Cook.
But Cook, despite running with a 15-lap reduction of hybrid usage compared to Hill’s nine, was able to soak up everything the BMW driver threw at him.
By the penultimate lap, Hill now had the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus of Cammish right in his wheeltracks in a three-car train for the lead, but a mistake at the Druids hairpin resulted in a spin for the BMW down to sixth place.
Cammish took up the cudgels, but Cook never looked like making a mistake and crossed the finish line 0.253 seconds in front.
Rory Butcher, running the same tyres as everyone else this time on his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla, had an entertaining mid-race battle for third with Cammish and battled briefly for second with Hill, but slipped back into a lonely drive to complete the podium after Hill’s spin.
Up to fourth came the second Motorbase Ford of Ash Sutton, which fell out of the top 10 early on but appeared to have a set-up that came into its own as the circuit dried a little.
Championship leader Tom Ingram had looked set for the position in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, but the charging Sutton loomed into his mirrors and slipped inside at Druids moments after Hill’s spin.
Hill also lost a place on the final lap to the Team Dynamics Honda of Gordon Shedden, while Dan Lloyd (Excelr8 Hyundai), George Gamble (Ciceley Motorsport BMW) and the fading Colin Turkington (WSR BMW) completed the top 10.
The top 12 have been reversed on the grid for race three, meaning Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) starts on pole alongside the Team Hard Cupra Leon of Bobby Thompson.
BTCC Brands Hatch Race 2 results
| Cla | Driver | Laps | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Josh Cook | 24 | 21'48.632 |
| 2 | Dan Cammish | 24 | 21'48.885 |
| 3 | Rory Butcher | 24 | 21'49.564 |
| 4 | Ashley Sutton | 24 | 21'53.013 |
| 5 | Tom Ingram | 24 | 21'55.817 |
| 6 | Gordon Shedden | 24 | 21'58.718 |
| 7 | Jake Hill | 24 | 21'59.016 |
| 8 | Daniel Lloyd | 24 | 21'59.521 |
| 9 | George Gamble | 24 | 22'00.597 |
| 10 | Colin Turkington | 24 | 22'01.298 |
| 11 | Bobby Thompson | 24 | 22'01.664 |
| 12 | Tom Chilton | 24 | 22'02.190 |
| 13 | Jason Plato | 24 | 22'06.202 |
| 14 | Ollie Jackson | 24 | 22'06.775 |
| 15 | Jade Edwards | 24 | 22'06.948 |
| 16 |  Aron Taylor-Smith | 24 | 22'10.658 |
| 17 | Ricky Collard | 24 | 22'12.631 |
| 18 | Stephen Jelley | 24 | 22'13.532 |
| 19 | Jack Butel | 24 | 22'13.749 |
| 20 | Sam Osborne | 24 | 22'19.937 |
| 21 | Nicolas Hamilton | 24 | 22'27.432 |
| 22 | Rick Parfitt Jr. | 24 | 22'28.138 |
| 23 | Will Powell | 23 | 21'51.051 |
| 24 | Aiden Moffat | 21 | 22'26.309 |
| Michael Crees | 7 | 6'41.677 | |
| Daniel Rowbottom | 0 | ||
| Ash Hand | 0 | ||
| Dexter Patterson | 0 | ||
| View full results | |||
