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BTCC Thruxton: Lights-to-flag victory for Cook in race three – BTCC

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Josh Cook led all the way from pole to claim his first British Touring Car Championship win of the season at Thruxton in the third race of the weekend.

It is not the first time the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R ace has taken the chequered flag first in 2020, but his previous on-the-road ‘win’ at Oulton Park was taken away when his car failed the post-race ride-height test.

Cook was pursued all the way through the race by team-mate Tom Chilton, the pairing breaking away from the pack and lapping in close formation past the halfway point in the reverse-grid race.

But Chilton struck the tyre stack at the left-handed element of the chicane with the left-front of his Honda, damaging the car sufficiently for a severe vibration to set in.

Chilton, with his tyres wearing out due to the vibration, was over two seconds adrift of Cook going into the final lap, and he was then further hampered by a misfire, which would almost certainly have cost him second place had the race run a lap longer.

“We’ve been plagued with little issues – nothing we could have foreseen – through the whole day, so it’s been a tough day, and to finish with a win like this is what the team deserves,” said Cook who won by 3.475s.

“We’re still not 100% but we’re getting there – I think some of the laps I’ve driven this weekend have been my best around here.”

Rory Butcher headed the rest, after getting ahead of Tom Oliphant’s BMW into the Complex on the opening lap.

Ash Sutton in turn passed Oliphant for fourth with a dive at Segrave on the fifth lap, and from then on the new championship leader’s Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 put Butcher’s Motorbase Performance Ford Focus under intense pressure.

Butcher put in a superb defensive drive, defending particularly hard at the Complex where Sutton seemed stronger, to complete the podium.

Tom Ingram benefited from Oliphant’s loss of momentum as Sutton passed to also demote the BMW, and was right behind Sutton.

Whenever Sutton tried a move and failed, Ingram was right there looking to capitalise in his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla, but today’s two-time race winner had to settle for fifth.

Oliphant took sixth in his West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330i M Sport, while the following train featured his pre-weekend championship-leading team-mate Colin Turkington.

Turkington spent most of the race mired behind the BTC Honda of Michael Crees, before finally finding a way past on the penultimate lap to finish eighth behind the Team Dynamics Civic of Matt Neal.

Jake Hill was also close at hand to finish ninth in his MB Motorsport Honda from yet another of the Civics – that of Dan Cammish, who lost a few positions in early battle with Turkington.

A puncture struck Crees on the final lap, dropping him towards the rear of the field.

BTCC Thruxton race three results – 16 laps

PosDriverTeamCarGap
1Josh CookBTC RacingHonda20m46.420s
2Tom ChiltonBTC RacingHonda3.475s
3Rory ButcherMotorbase PerformanceFord4.397s
4Ash SuttonLaser Tools RacingInfiniti5.096s
5Tom IngramSpeedworks MotorsportToyota5.628s
6Tom OliphantWSRBMW7.119s
7Matt NealTeam DynamicsHonda7.451s
8Colin TurkingtonWSRBMW8.447s
9Jake HillAmD TuningHonda8.912s
10Dan CammishTeam DynamicsHonda9.629s
11Rob AustinPower Maxed RacingVauxhall10.345s
12Senna ProctorExcelr8 MotorsportHyundai13.729s
13Ollie JacksonMotorbase PerformanceFord14.270s
14Jack GoffTeam HardVolkswagen16.000s
15Bobby ThompsonTrade Price Cars RacingAudi17.840s
16Chris SmileyExcelr8 MotorsportHyundai22.384s
17Stephen JelleyTeam Parker RacingBMW23.032s
18Andy NeateMotorbase PerformanceFord30.904s
19Jack ButelCiceley MotorsportMercedes31.263s
20Tom Onslow-ColeTeam HardVolkswagen35.369s
21Sam OsborneAmD TuningHonda35.595s
22Michael CreesBTC RacingHonda36.060s
Adam MorganCiceley MotorsportMercedesRetirement
Aiden MoffatLaser Tools RacingInfinitiNot classified
Nicolas HamiltonTeam HardVolkswagenRetirement
Carl BoardleyTeam HardBMWRetirement
James GornallTrade Price Cars RacingAudiWithdrawn

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