BTCC Thruxton: Cook holds off Sutton for opener win

Josh Cook continued his Thruxton form to lead all the way for victory in the first British Touring Car Championship race of the day.

The West Countryman is master of the Hampshire speedbowl, and ‘Mr Thruxton’ guided his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport home for his 11th full-points success at the venue, and 12th if you count Saturday’s qualifying race.

Ash Sutton never let up in his pursuit, the four-time title winner extending his championship lead with second place in his Alliance Racing-run NAPA Ford Focus Titanium, 0.653 seconds adrift of the winning Toyota.

Sutton needed to battle his way past his main title rival, reigning champion Tom Ingram, on the opening lap.

Ingram started his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N Fastback from second on the grid and got a better launch than Cook, but Sutton’s was better still.

Ingram just hung on to the runner-up spot at the Complex, but a strong exit from Sutton allowed him to pull to the outside at the left-handed Noble kink, giving him the inside line for the following Goodwood right-hander.

Josh Cook, Speedworks Corolla Racing Toyota Corolla GR Sport (Photo by: JEP)

With Sutton’s team-mates Dan Cammish and Senna Proctor also bidding to get in on the act, the unfortunate Ingram was hung out to dry and dropped two wheels onto the grass on the outside, dropping him to ninth place.

These shenanigans also allowed Dan Rowbottom, who had started his Plato Racing Mercedes A35 Saloon from seventh on the grid, the momentum to somehow slot himself into third by the time the battle arrived at Church Corner.

Rowbottom stayed close to Sutton early on, but fell away into his own race while the Ford took the battle to the leading Toyota.

Cook had the full 10 laps of TOCA Turbo Boost, Sutton just one – which he saved until the final lap. But Cook also had one lap of TTB in his pocket and held on.

“That was a tough race actually,” said Cook. “I know that from the outside it can sometimes look boring, but I was having to use every ounce of brainpower and strategy – and when to deploy TTB from Ash.

“I’m lucky that I had the TTB. Without it I would have struggled, as you’ll probably see in the next race!”

Senna Proctor, NAPA Racing UK (Photo by: JEP)

Rowbottom finished third for the maiden podium for Plato Racing in a full-points race, after a period in the doldrums since their debut win in the Donington qualification race.

Proctor, in his first BTCC race since last October, did very nicely to claim fourth, while team-mate Cammish came under attack from Adam Morgan and the recovering Ingram.

Ingram pulled off a beautiful move around the outside of Morgan at the chicane on the sixth lap of 16, and four laps later dived down the inside of Cammish at Segrave to take an eventual fifth.

Cammish also lost out to the second Plato Mercedes of Morgan, who claimed sixth position four laps from the end.

Mikey Doble (Power Maxed Racing Audi A3 Saloon) and James Dorlin (Restart Racing Hyundai) ran in close formation in eighth and ninth without ever looking likely to fight about it, while the second Restart Hyundai of Chris Smiley was 10th.

All of them benefited when an off for Gordon Shedden sent the Speedworks-run Toyota, which had been lying eighth, to the pits for grass to be removed from the radiator.

BTCC Thruxton - Race 1 results

RACE1

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#		Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	J. Cook Speedworks Corolla Racing			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	20'42.956				20
2	A. Sutton NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus Titanium	16	+0.653 20'43.609	0.653			17
3	D. Rowbottom Cataclean Plato Racing			Mercedes A35 Saloon	16	+3.422 20'46.378	2.769			15
4	S. Proctor NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus Titanium	16	+6.334 20'49.290	2.912			13
5	T. Ingram Team Vertu			Hyundai i30N	16	+7.005 20'49.961	0.671			11
6	A. Morgan Cataclean Plato Racing			Mercedes A35 Saloon	16	+8.451 20'51.407	1.446			10
7	D. Cammish NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus Titanium	16	+13.797 20'56.753	5.346			9
8	M. Doble LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing			Audi A3 Saloon	16	+14.533 20'57.489	0.736			8
9	J. Dorlin Restart Racing			Hyundai i30N	16	+15.925 20'58.881	1.392			7
10	C. Smiley Restart Racing			Hyundai i30N	16	+22.262 21'05.218	6.337			6
11	A. Taylor-Smith Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	+23.102 21'06.058	0.840			5
12	D. De Leon West Surrey Racing			BMW 330i M Sport	16	+24.104 21'07.060	1.002			4
13	T. Chilton Team Vertu			Hyundai i30N	16	+24.248 21'07.204	0.144			3
14	A. Moffat LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing			Audi A3 Saloon	16	+25.211 21'08.167	0.963			2
15	D. Patterson Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing			Audi A3 Saloon	16	+25.744 21'08.700	0.533			1
16	C. Rainford West Surrey Racing			BMW 330i M Sport	16	+26.208 21'09.164	0.464
17	L. Selby NAPA Racing UK			Ford Focus Titanium	16	+27.172 21'10.128	0.964
18	R. Collard Team Vertu			Hyundai i30N	16	+34.487 21'17.443	7.315
19	R. Bensley Speedworks Corolla Racing			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	+46.843 21'29.799	12.356
20	N. Hamilton Team Vertu			Hyundai i30N	16	+48.098 21'31.054	1.255
21	L. Gilbert West Surrey Racing			BMW 330i M Sport	16	+48.390 21'31.346	0.292
22	G. Shedden Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport			Toyota Corolla GR Sport	16	+1'08.970 21'51.926	20.580
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