Cook, Sutton and Ingram snare Thruxton BTCC wins

“King of Thruxton” Josh Cook, Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram were the winners as the British Touring Car Championship resumed at the high-speed Thruxton Circuit after a seven-week layoff.

Cook’s win in the first race of the day was an 11th victory in a championship round for him at the track, made him the ninth different race winner this season, and came a day after he won a qualifying race for the first time to start Sunday’s opener from pole.

“It was tough,” said Cook. “Our car isn't suited to this circuit. Obviously, we needed that extra TTB (TOCA Turbo Boost) that we had over the others.

“The thing is, I'm no better driving this circuit than the likes of Ash [Sutton] and [Dan] Camish and those guys. They're decent pedalers, so I don't have anything special that I do around here. We just delivered on the day.”

The Speedworks Corolla Racing driver faced a challenge from Ingram at the start, the Team Vertu man getting away better. A stronger run through the first sequence of corners, however, solidified Cook’s position and Sutton was also able to nab second as he entered Goodwood with Ingram and Ingram dropped onto the grass and fell down the order.

That allowed Daniel Rowbottom into third, while Senna Proctor, Adam Morgan, and Dan Cammish all entered the fray for that final podium spot. It was Rowbottom's though, giving Cataclean Plato Racing its first podium finish in a championship round.

Proctor, filling in for an unwell Sam Osborne at NAPA Racing UK, took fourth in what was his first touring car race since last season's finale at Brands Hatch, while Ingram was able to recover from falling as low as night after his excursion into the grass to take fifth, ahead of Morgan, Cammish, and Mikey Doble.

The Restart Racing pair of James Dorlin and Chris Smiley completed the Race 1 top 10.

RACE 1 RESULTS

Owing to Thruxton’s high-speed nature and its demands on tires, there was no variation in tire choices this weekend – no soft tires and no rule for the top three finishers being forced to use a hard tire for the following race – everyone was running hard tires for all three races.

That ought to have given Cook a fighting chance to go back to back, despite having less boost to use as Race 1 winner.

A lap 1 mistake at Church opened the door for Sutton, however, and he didn't need to think twice about the invitation, running mostly untroubled out in front for the rest of the race aside from a puncture scare, to take his sixth victory of the season. He was investigated for his race start initially, but it ultimately came to nothing.

“We tried to get Josh at the start, but couldn't quite do that,” said Sutton. “So, settled in, saw him make a little mistake at Church – Church has been our strong point, so capitalized on that. Got run on him, deployed, went for the fastest lap, normal shenanigans, and then sort of managed it.

“But yeah, there was a phase in the middle of the race where I really panicked. I genuinely felt we had a puncture, and I was speaking to the other guys; they said they didn't experience any of that. Obviously, we didn't get a puncture because we finished the race, but there was definitely a thing going on with our car. We experienced it five or six times where it gave me the sensation that either fluids were down, but there was a puncture.”

Ingram took second on the road but was demoted to fifth with a 10-second penalty for track limits violations, pushing Cook – who'd had contact with Ingram during the race – up to second while Cammish moved up to third. Rowbotton followed up his Race 1 podium with fourth, ahead of the relegated Ingram.

Dorlin enjoyed another strong race to finish sixth, ahead of Morgan, Doble, and the Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport duo of Aron Taylor-Smith and Gordon Shedden.

RACE 2 RESULTS

The partial reverse grid for Race 3 put Dorlin on pole ahead of Ingram, Rowbottom, Cammish, Cook, Sutton, Morgan and Doble with Taylor-Smith and Shedden the first of those staying in their finishing positions from Race 2.

Ingram, driving a similar Excelr8-built Hyundai – albeit powered by the team's own engine rather than the series-provided "TOCA engine" in Dorlin's car – wasted little time to draw alongside Dorlin, getting by at the Complex, the first of two major braking zones on the track.

Once out front, Ingram immediately set about pulling away but that was quickly halted by an early safety car for an incident at the end of the first lap when Morgan collected Cook, who then made contact with Taylor-Smith. Cook’s new teammate Ryan Bensley also retired during the same stoppage, the damage from his car leading to an extended safety car period as marshals worked to remove his car.

When the race restarted, Ingram renewed his domination out in front, while Sutton quickly disposed of Dorlin for second.

Cammish, Ricky Collard and Proctor all subsequently found their way past. Nevertheless, it was the second time Dorlin had netted three consecutive top-10s and was the first time in his career that he had finished every race of a single meeting in the top 10.

Once again the race winner was placed under investigation for a start infringement, but while nothing happened to Sutton after Race 2, Ingram was given a five-second penalty. But, having won by 5.663s, it proved to be of little significance.

“Obviously issues in every single race, with various dramas or caught up in chaos, it's been a fairly trying weekend,” said Ingram. “I think it was it was just a case of having to having to put the hard yards in today because I've struggled a little bit this weekend to try and make sure that we've been good, especially after that first race. And then again after that second race, I did feel fairly flat, so I'm pleased that we've been able to get get something out of it.

“We'll get out of this weekend, see it as hopefully a bit of a learning weekend, and and come back stronger the next race.”

By winning Race 3, Ingram continued to chip away at Sutton’s mammoth championship lead, but it still stands at 59 points.

RACE 3 RESULTS