BTC Racing’s Josh Cook scored his second victory of the season in race three of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton, after passing polesitter Ash Sutton in the opening corners.
Cook, who won the opening race of the 2019 season in mixed conditions at Brands Hatch, got ahead on the first lap and controlled the pace from AmD Tuning’s Rory Butcher, who fended off late pressure from Ash Sutton.
The 2017 champion enjoyed a good launch in his rear-wheel drive Subaru Levorg before Cook fought back through the damp opening corner and switched back to get the move completed into Campbell to gain a lead he would not relinquish.
Although he maintained the lead, Cook had to contend with two safety car restarts, the first after the opening lap as second-row starter Rob Collard spun at Campbell and the unsighted Adam Morgan collected him in a heavy hit.
The second safety car period was necessitated on lap eight as the recovering Collard battled with Rob Smith’s Excelr8 Motorsport MG, the latter spinning and collecting Carl Boardley before Church corner.
The result places Butcher as joint top of the Drivers’ Standings with reigning champion Colin Turkington also on 102 points, with double race winner Cook five points adrift.
In fourth position was Matt Neal, albeit just under three seconds adrift of third-placed Sutton after he managed to keep Tom Ingram’s Toyota Corolla behind at the flag.
Tom Oliphant came next in the best of the BMWs, enjoying a more straight-forward drive after two difficult previous races earlier in the day, while Jason Plato finished eighth to cap off a strong points haul from the Hampshire circuit.
Oliphant’s team-mate Turkington came within two tenths of Plato to finish ninth, with Aiden Moffat salvaging some points from a tricky weekend to round out the top ten in the final encounter.
Northern Irishman Chris Smiley battled hard to finish 11th, while Stephen Jelley’s older BMW 125i M Sport ended up 12th.
Motorbase’s Tom Chilton enjoyed a tight battle with Rob Collard and Senna Proctor to the flag, with the trio finishing in 13th, 14th and 15th positions respectively.
Andrew Jordan, who doubled up with two victories in the previous races, scored zero points in the final contest after Jelley pitched him into a spin on the exit of Cobb corner.
The next round of the 2019 British Touring Car Championship will take place at Croft on the weekend of the 15-16 June.
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 66 | I | Josh COOK |  |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 28:30.020 | 1:16.592 | 2 |
| 2 | 6 | I | Rory BUTCHER | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 0.420 | 1:16.904 | 5 |
| 3 | 116 | M | Ashley SUTTON | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 19 | 0.894 | 1:16.838 | 1 |
| 4 | 25 | M | Matt NEAL | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 3.786 | 1:16.953 | 7 |
| 5 | 80 | M | Tom INGRAM | |
Team Toyota GB with Ginsters | Toyota Corolla | 19 | 4.468 | 1:17.091 | 4 |
| 6 | 27 | M | Dan CAMMISH | |
Halfords Yuasa Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 5.510 | 1:17.078 | 9 |
| 7 | 15 | M | Tom OLIPHANT | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 19 | 6.012 | 1:17.130 | 14 |
| 8 | 11 | M | Jason PLATO | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 19 | 6.466 | 1:17.072 | 8 |
| 9 | 1 | M | Colin TURKINGTON | |
Team BMW | BMW 330i M Sport | 19 | 6.728 | 1:17.131 | 10 |
| 10 | 16 | I | Aiden MOFFAT | |
Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 19 | 11.326 | 1:17.529 | 17 |
| 11 | 22 | I | Chris SMILEY | |
BTC Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 11.679 | 1:17.304 | 15 |
| 12 | 12 | I | Stephen JELLEY | |
Team Parker Racing | BMW 125i M Sport | 19 | 12.112 | 1:17.466 | 18 |
| 13 | 3 | I | Tom CHILTON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 19 | 12.826 | 1:17.184 | 25 |
| 14 | 9 | M | Rob COLLARD | |
Sterling Insurance with Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 19 | 13.115 | 1:17.317 | 3 |
| 15 | 18 | M | Senna PROCTOR | |
Adrian Flux Subaru Racing | Subaru Levorg | 19 | 13.511 | 1:17.268 | 16 |
| 16 | 48 | I | Ollie JACKSON | |
Team Shredded Wheat Racing with Gallagher | Ford Focus RS | 19 | 15.609 | 1:17.899 | 30 |
| 17 | 77 | M | Andrew JORDAN | |
BMW Pirtek Racing | BMW 330i M Sport | 19 | 16.493 | 1:17.339 | 11 |
| 18 | 24 | I | Jake HILL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 19 | 17.280 | 1:17.547 | 12 |
| 19 | 303 | I | Matt SIMPSON | |
Simpson Racing | Honda Civic Type R | 19 | 19.707 | 1:17.507 | 21 |
| 20 | 19 | I | Bobby THOMPSON | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 23.297 | 1:18.587 | 22 |
| 21 | 4 | I | Sam OSBORNE | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 19 | 32.064 | 1:19.174 | 27 |
| 22 | 777 | I | Michael CREES | |
GKR Scaffolding with Autobrite Direct | Volkswagen CC | 19 | 43.032 | 1:19.202 | 26 |
| 23 | 37 | I | Rob SMITH | |
Exceler8 Motorsport | MG6 | 19 | 1:14.546 | 1:19.053 | 20 |
| 24 | 28 | I | Nicolas HAMILTON | |
ROKiT Racing with Motorbase | Ford Focus RS | 18 | 1 Lap | 1:18.559 | 28 |
| R | 32 | I | Daniel ROWBOTTOM | |
Cataclean Racing with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 12 | DNF | 1:18.171 | 24 |
| R | 41 | I | Carl BOARDLEY | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 8 | DNF | 1:18.908 | 23 |
| R | 8 | I | Mark BLUNDELL | |
TradePriceCars.com | Audi S3 | 7 | DNF | 1:20.471 | 29 |
| R | 600 | I | Sam TORDOFF | |
Cobra Sport AmD AutoAid / RCIB Insurance | Honda Civic Type R | 6 | DNF | 1:18.414 | 6 |
| R | 33 | I | Adam MORGAN | |
Mac Tools with Ciceley Motorsport | Mercedes-Benz A-Class | 0 | DNF | N/A | 13 |
| R | 31 | I | Jack GOFF | |
RCIB Insurance with Fox Transport | Volkswagen CC | 0 | DNF | N/A | 19 |