Josh Cook has currently taken a maximum point haul out of the opening weekend of the 2021 British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) at Thruxton after making it two wins from two.
It was a one-two for BTC Racing with guest driver, Dan Cammish once again showing his brilliance hasn’t waned despite no testing and a late call-up. While Jake Hill once again is on the podium finishing third ahead of a career best result for Dan Rowbottom in his debut weekend for Halfords Racing with Cataclean.
Jason Plato, Tom Ingram, Colin Turkington, Aidan Moffat, Ash Sutton and Tom Oliphant rounded out the top ten, but it was an incident on the opening lap which grabbed all the headlines.
Cook managed to hang onto the race lead with Ingram and Hill jostling for position only for a red flag to come out due to a major crash on turn one involving Glynn Geddie, Andy Neate and Jade Edwards.
The Ford Focus ST of Neate was the main culprit as he went steaming into Geddie causing the Cupra Leon to roll and Edwards was on the outside line so had nowhere to go meaning all three suffered heavy damage.
After a long period in which the cars were recovered and the tyre barrier put back into place, Race Two got underway.
Cook got off the line well again and held Ingram off but only after they touched early on seemingly allowing the former to not spin and this helped Cammish made it a one-two for BTC Racing pulling ahead of Hill and Ingram just before Butcher went off the road and into the tyre barrier meaning a safety car was set.
Waiting for the restart, Ash Sutton headed into the pits with engine issues mooted with another effort from the back needed for the reigning champion.
The lights were out on Lap 5 with Cook and Cammish restarting the race with Hill joining the leading pack as a result of Plato and Ingram jostling behind.
Rowbottom made an impressive move to get past Ingram and started to hunt Plato as he went into 5th. Up at the front of the field, Cook’s lead was half a second but Cammish was cutting the gap.
While for Rowbottom, he went into fourth getting past Plato with his next aim being the podium and Jake Hill who was sat in third. Further down, Sutton was into 10th as he once again surged up the field with potential reverse grid aims.
Onto the last lap, Cook looked like he was going to survive at the head of the field ahead of Cammish and Hill and that is how it concluded with the former taking a maximum points haul with a fastest lap once more.
Post race, Stephen Jelley was rewarded with pole for the reverse grid race with Tom Oliphant and Ash Sutton finalising the top three.
2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Thruxton
1 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing 15 laps
2 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) BTC Racing +0.234s
3 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +1.625s
4 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +4.655s
5 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +4.976s
6 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +6.961s7 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +7.303s
8 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +9.291s
9 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +10.055s
10 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +11.411s
11 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +13.259s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +13.759s
13 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +15.311s
14 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +15.826s
15 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +16.944s
16 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +17.540s
17 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +19.551s
18 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +19.914s
19 Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +26.245s
20 Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +26.623s
21 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +32.085s
22 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +35.931s
23 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +1 lap
24 Rick PARFITT (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +7 laps
25 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +15 laps
26 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +15 laps
27 Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +15 laps
28 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +15 laps
29 Andy NEATE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +15 laps