Josh Cook has taken victory in the reverse grid Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton following a fantastic overtake on the opening lap where he passed pole sitter Ashley Sutton.
Sutton got a usual good rear-wheel drive start. However, the pace of the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R caught rapidly and Cook had passed the 2017 BTCC champion by the time they reached the third corner.
Drama on the opening lap as an unsighted Adam Morgan clattered into the back of a half spun Rob Collard. Morgan was a retirement on the spot as his disappointing weekend came to a close. Collard meanwhile went back to the pits to have errant bodywork removed. Thanks to the safety car Rob fought well to take fourteenth at the flag.
Rory Butcher attempted to take the battle to Cook throughout the race however despite a further safety car intervention due to the collision between Rob Smith and Carl Boardley. Cook remained in control throughout to take his third career victory.
Sutton took third ahead of Matt Neal in fourth and Tom Ingram in fifth despite his Toyota suffering from balance issues through most of the weekend.
Dan Cammish took sixth ahead of Tom Oliphant who enjoyed a lack of weight in his BMW 330i M Sport to take seventh in front of a revitalised Jason Plato in eighth.
The top ten was rounded out by Colin Turkington and Aiden Moffat who drove well to a good tenth place finish. Chris Smiley took eleventh following a race long battle with Moffat but the Scot had the match of the Northern Irishman.
Stephen Jelley took twelfth ahead of a recovering Tom Chilton and Senna Proctor rounded out the final points position in fifteenth.
Race one and two winner Andrew Jordan finished seventeenth after recovering from a spin and Jake Hill finished in eighteenth.
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