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Stephen Lickorish

BTCC Brands Hatch: BTC Racing's Cook storms to Race 1 win

The early stages of the race featured a thrilling battle between BMW 330e M Sport team-mates Colin Turkington and Jake Hill before the pair dropped back later on as their wet weather tyres started to struggle, enabling Cook to pounce.

Polesitter Turkington maintained the lead at the start but was soon under attack from local driver Hill, who made repeated attempts to grab the lead around the outside at Druids.

Cook, meanwhile, briefly grabbed third on the opening lap before sliding wide at Surtees and dropping back behind the third of the WSR BMWs of Stephen Jelley.

Cook regained the spot on the inside at Druids on lap seven of 24 before then quickly hunting down the lead pair.

Four laps later, he made a sensational dive down the inside of Hill at Paddock Hill Bend, the BMW driver doing his best to defend but was unable to keep the charging Cook at bay.

It was then a repeat move on Turkington that netted him the lead, which he maintained to the flag.

"We like these conditions and it was a mega job by the team," said Cook.

"I was secretly happy but also terrified [by the rain] because of the pressure.

"The trip across the grass was a rookie error - I was looking down at my dash and missed the corner.

"I had the fear factor of being told off when I got back to the garage, so I got my head down!"

Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus ST (Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images)

It was championship leader Tom Ingram's Hyundai i30 N that ended as Cook's closest challenger, the Excelr8 driver picking his way through from sixth on the grid, while Dan Cammish grabbed a podium in his Ford Focus - profiting from Hill running wide at Paddock Hill Bend with three laps to go.

Hill therefore had to settle for fourth, while Turkington faded to fifth by the finish ahead of the Ciceley BMW of Adam Morgan.

Only two drivers rolled the dice at the start and opted for slick tyres, with Rory Butcher - who started ninth - being the highest placed to do so.

It looked to have backfired when he spun on the Cooper Straight on the green-flag lap and then fell to the back of the pack in the early stages, only ahead of fellow slick-starter Will Powell.

But Butcher's pace came alive in the second half of the race and the Toyota Corolla surged up the order.
He was sixth with a lap to go and challenging for a brilliant fourth when he ran wide at Clearways and had to settle for seventh.

Gordon Shedden's Honda was eighth - but could face a penalty as his Team Dynamics mechanics were still working on his car as the grid was cleared - while Ash Sutton's Focus and Dan Rowbottom's Civic rounded out the top 10.

BTCC Brands Hatch Race 1 results

Cla Driver Time Gap
1 United Kingdom Josh Cook 21'44.124  
2 United Kingdom Tom Ingram 21'44.926 0.802
3 United Kingdom Dan Cammish 21'48.333 4.209
4 United Kingdom Jake Hill 21'49.161 5.037
5 United Kingdom Colin Turkington 21'51.815 7.691
6 United Kingdom Adam Morgan 21'54.244 10.120
7 United Kingdom Rory Butcher 21'54.972 10.848
8 United Kingdom Gordon Shedden 21'55.794 11.670
9 United Kingdom Ashley Sutton 21'56.633 12.509
10 United Kingdom Daniel Rowbottom 21'58.509 14.385
11 United Kingdom Ash Hand 21'59.158 15.034
12 Michael Crees 21'59.468 15.344
13 United Kingdom Tom Chilton 21'59.583 15.459
14 George Gamble 22'00.346 16.222
15 United Kingdom Daniel Lloyd 22'01.785 17.661
16 Bobby Thompson 22'03.788 19.664
17 United Kingdom Jason Plato 22'04.677 20.553
18 Jade Edwards 22'12.305 28.181
19 Jersey Jack Butel 22'13.008 28.884
20 United Kingdom Stephen Jelley 22'13.755 29.631
21 Ireland Aron Taylor-Smith 22'18.864 34.740
22 United Kingdom Aiden Moffat 22'19.883 35.759
23 United Kingdom Ollie Jackson 22'20.109 35.985
24 United Kingdom Sam Osborne 22'20.343 36.219
25 Dexter Patterson 22'20.872 36.748
26 United Kingdom Ricky Collard 22'25.123 40.999
27 Nicolas Hamilton 22'31.887 47.763
28 Rick Parfitt Jr. 22'32.629 48.505
29 Will Powell 22'21.102 1 Lap
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