Cook tackles Croft course
Last weekend saw the fifth round of the British Touring Car Championship held at Croft, with Bath’s Josh Cook in action in his Power Maxed Tag Racing backed Vauxhall Astra.
After qualifying he was ninth fastest and just 0.67secs off pole position, with the top 17 covered by one second.
Cook carried 39kgs of ballast and despite the safety car being deployed on the first lap, he was up to eighth place by lap seven of 17 and in a three-car dice for sixth place with former champion Colin Turkington and Rob Collard in their BMWS.
On lap 14, Andrew Jordan span at the first corner and this led to an exciting four-car battle for fourth place as Turkington, Collard and Cook caught Sam Tordoff’s Ford Focus, with Cook crossing the line seventh.
The second race saw Cook start from seventh on the grid and 27kgs ballast, but as he went in to the 130mph right hander at Tower Corner, he left the circuit in dramatic style with a possible front left puncture. Though Cook was able to drive back to the pits, he retired from the race.
He started his final race of the day from the back of the grid in 32nd place and by the seventh of 15 laps, had made his way up to 26th. At two-thirds race distance, Cook was just outside the top 20 and would cross the finishing line 18th place. He is currently ninth in the championship standings.