Josh Cook heaped praise on the Power Maxed Racing squad after claiming a maiden Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship podium finish in the second race from Rockingham.
The Chevrolet Cruze driver charged from 14th on the grid in the second race in Corby to third spot, the rookie having made a demon getaway before pulling off late-braking moves on Rob Austin, Colin Turkington, Jack Goff and Adam Morgan to claim a maiden overall podium finish.
The result was also the first for the Power Maxed Racing outfit in their debut season, Cook praising the team afterwards following a breakthrough result.
A jubilant Cook spoke to The Checkered Flag after the race, saying: “That was awesome! I made up a few places off the line, then started to pick them off one-by-one. The car really, really had a lot of pace.
“It was just about keeping out of trouble, picking them off one-by-one and then me and Adam [Morgan] were really fighting – I went around the outside of him at one point and I went onto the grass to stay out of trouble.”
A late lunge around the outside of Morgan’s Mercedes completed Cook’s charge on the last lap, the rookie adding: “Every time you hit the brakes you think ‘oh is going to stick?’ and pitch the car in.
“It was really good to have done it all on outright pace as well.
“I’m chuffed to bits! We’ve got the reverse grid to come too and I’ll hopefully pick a few off from eighth.”
Cook had been in contention for victory earlier this season in a superb race three dice at Donington Park, and added his praise for the Independent outfit following their latest result.
“A big thanks to the PMR team – it proves now that we’re really doing it right. We showed glimpses at the beginning of the year that we had the pace and in the middle, although we did have some decent days, it didn’t show really in our results.
“We kept also getting tangled up a lot. This weekend both cars have been fast and, it shows that if I’d have got stuck in something I’d have been in trouble like with what happened to Dave [Newsham].”
The Jack Sears Trophy is also another step closer to heading Cook’s way, now 133 points ahead with only 140 remaining.