Josh Cook’s Thruxton magic shone once more in the British Touring Car Championship‘s Race to Pole, which he hopes will ‘convert’ to Sunday joy.
Cook topped the charts convincingly in the traditional section of qualifying, with a lap two tenths better than his Group 1 rivals and four tenths clear of Tom Ingram’s Group 2 time.
From there, his Race to Pole victory was relatively academic.
The Speedworks Corolla man led off the line and defied a brief challenge from Ingram through the opening complex, before running unchallenged after a safety-car period ceased on lap four.
While the win does not count towards his record of 10 at the Hampshire circuit, it does send an ominous signal to the rest of the field that the ‘King of Thruxton’ is up front to start Sunday’s racing.
“Tom got a nice little run once we got going so I had to block from him and he gave me a little bump to get me going,” Cook told BTCC media.
“Just settled into the race and thought I’d see what we could do and I just managed to get him behind.
“Tried to not overwork my tyres too hard, it’s easy to do around here, and bring it home – eyes on tomorrow.”
Tyres are usually a focal point of the racing at the fastest circuit in the UK, where TOCA officials mandate the Goodyear hard compound for all racing action. This removes a usual strategic element of BTCC Sundays, where teams have to decide when they want to run the slower prime compound.
“It’s [the Race to Pole victory] good for me, it’s good for the team,” Cook concluded.
“That’s why we’re here, it’s a team effort, it’s not just about me so I’m really pleased for all of them. Everybody worked so hard, so the important thing is we convert it tomorrow.”
Discussion about this post