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
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– The Autosport.com Team
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