BTC Racing’s Josh Cook feels he was “mugged” on the final lap of the second British Touring Car Championship race at Croft following contact with fellow Honda racer Matt Neal who provisionally went on to take victory.
Polesitter Cook, who fended off pressure from Jake Hill to take his second victory of the 2020 campaign in the opening race earlier in the day, got another solid start despite carrying the 60 kilograms of success ballast aboard his Honda Civic Type R.
With drama unfolding behind between Ash Sutton and Jake Hill, Cook extended his advantage out front to over two seconds before being hunted down by the ballast-free Honda of Neal in the closing stages.
The pair were nose-to-tail on the penultimate lap but Neal went for a move into Sunny In on the final tour which tapped Cook into a slide, with the latter losing the position as a result and eventually finishing half a second adrift of Neal on the road.
Cook believes the footage “speaks for itself,” and that he was “mugged” on the final lap, hinting that the positions may well be reversed once the stewards have taken a look into it.
“I think the video probably speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Obviously 60 kilos in the car, BTC have done a great job all day,” said Cook.
“I just keep coming back to the mega effort the team are putting in. Everybody is just flat out committed and I think the results are just showing what a good job they’re doing.
“If nothing happens, that’s P1 and P2, which if you’d have told me that before the weekend I’d have been real happy. But I just can’t help but feel that was mugged off me at the end.”
The final British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Croft is scheduled to get underway at 17:06 BST.