Josh Cook claims Thruxton pole

Josh Cook claimed his first pole position in the British Touring Car Championship since Donington Park in 2024, as he flew to the fastest time around the high-speed Hampshire circuit.

Speedworks Corolla Racing’s Cook was 0.189 seconds faster than NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish in the first group of the session, but it will be Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram who lines up alongside him on the front row of the grid, thanks to Ingram being quickest in the second group of the afternoon.

That came despite Ingram being 0.452 seconds slower than Cook with a lap which was only the fourth quickest of the overall qualifying session, although as each qualifying group gets its own side of the grid, the times are not combined or not ranked in order of speed.

Thus Cammish will start third, sharing the second row of the grid with team-mate Senna Proctor, who put in a strong showing on his return to the championship as a late substitute for an ill Sam Osborne.

Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan was fifth, ahead of the leading Power Maxed Racing Audi of Mikey Doble in sixth – despite the latter having endured a high-speed off on the exit of Church corner in his part of the session.

Championship leader Ash Sutton put his NAPA Ford in seventh, sharing the fourth row of the grid with Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard in eighth.

The top ten was completed by Plato Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom and Restart Racing’s James Dorlin.

Team VERTU’s Tom Chilton was 11^th, whilst Gordon Shedden was the best of the Laser Tools Racing Toyota duo, despite suffering bonnet damage when it flicked open on his first lap out of the pits at the start of the session.

It was a poor qualifying session for the WSR-run BMWs. Daryl De Leon was the best of the 3 Series drivers in 18^th, over a second off the pace, with team-mate Charles Rainford directly behind in 19^th, whilst rookie Lewis Gilbert was slowest of all and will start from 21^st.

The qualifying race is scheduled to get underway at 15:05 BST.

Combined times

POS	NO	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	GAP
1	66		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:15.219	–
2	80		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	6	1:15.671	0.452
3	27		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:15.408	0.189
4	18		Senna PROCTOR	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:15.975	0.756
5	33		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	9	1:15.495	0.276
6	88		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	8	1:15.988	0.769
7	116		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:15.687	0.468
8	11		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:16.036	0.817
9	32		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	9	1:15.943	0.724
10	132		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	8	1:16.040	0.821
11	3		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	9	1:16.149	0.930
12	52		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	8	1:16.079	0.860
13	15		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	9	1:16.181	0.962
14	50		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:16.109	0.890
15	22		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	10	1:16.332	1.113
16	16		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	1:16.110	0.891
17	7		Ryan BENSLEY	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	1:16.736	1.517
18	2		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	10	1:16.549	1.330
19	99		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	10	1:16.789	1.570
20	17		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	9	1:16.754	1.535
21	29		Lewis GILBERT	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	10	1:17.744	2.525
22	28		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	6	1:17.623	2.404