Josh Cook claims lights-to-flag win in Thruxton qualifying race

Toyota’s Josh Cook scored a controlled victory in the British Touring Car Championship qualifying race at Thruxton, ahead of Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram and NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton.

Cook had been quickest of all in the earlier qualifying session, and the local racer duly delivered in Saturday afternoon’s qualifying race, scoring a lights-to-flag win which was punctuated by a brief safety car intervention.

That safety car was required at the end of the opening lap when Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard crawled to a halt at the Complex due to an issue with his Hyundai.

Racing resumed on lap four, and at the front Cook initially had to defend from Ingram, before ultimately pulling clear of the two-time champion.

Further back, dramas at the restart saw Lewis Selby hit the rear of Charles Rainford’s BMW, sending the WSR driver spinning on the start-finish straight, whilst newcomer Lewis Gilbert was also caught up in the melee, suffering heavy front-end damage that ended his race.

But at the front, Cook was untouchable and won by a second ahead of Ingram, whilst Sutton took third. The latter had masterfully moved from seventh on the grid up to fourth at the start, including a move on Adam Morgan and Senna Proctor which saw Sutton gain two places at the Complex.

Cammish finished just behind his team-mate in fourth, having lost out to Sutton at Seagrave on lap five, with Proctor claiming fifth on his BTCC return.

Laser Tools Racing’s Gordon Shedden was sixth, ahead of Plato Racing duo Morgan and Daniel Rowbottom. Rowbottom had actually got ahead of Morgan on lap eight with a strong run into the first corner, only to go wide at Church corner three laps later and lose the place again.

The top ten was completed by Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble and Restart Racing’s James Dorlin.

Race one is scheduled to get underway at 11:45 BST on Sunday.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	66			Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	19:26.113	1:16.105	1
2	80			Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	14	1.072	1:16.546	2
3	116			Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	14	1.940	1:16.887	7
4	27			Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	14	5.881	1:17.144	3
5	18			Senna PROCTOR	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	14	7.075	1:16.943	4
6	52			Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	8.882	1:17.388	11
7	33			Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	14	9.772	1:16.767	5
8	32			Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	14	12.127	1:17.384	9
9	88			Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	14	14.037	1:17.819	6
10	132			James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	14	14.448	1:18.372	10
11	50			Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	14	15.585	1:18.284	14
12	22			Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	14	17.535	1:18.187	15
13	16			Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	14	18.640	1:18.045	16
14	17			Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	14	19.347	1:17.577	20
15	2			Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	14	21.409	1:18.251	18
16	15			Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	14	24.533	1:18.118	12
17	3			Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	13	+ 1 LAP	1:17.308	13
18	99			Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	13	+ 1 LAP	1:18.659	19
R	28			Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	4	DNF	1:36.051	22
R	7			Ryan BENSLEY	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	4	DNF	1:35.047	17
R	29			Lewis GILBERT	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	4	DNF	1:38.486	21
R	11			Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	0	DNF	N/A	8