Josh Cook continued his late-season bid for Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship glory in 2024 with a trio of fourth-place finishes at Donington Park last weekend (24-25 August), as the LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ star delivered a characteristically committed performance in Toyota’s ‘backyard’.
The Leicestershire circuit is located less than 15 miles down the road from Toyota Motor Manufacturing UK (TMUK), where the road-going Toyota Corolla is produced, and on a wet-but-drying track surface in qualifying around its legendary ‘GP’ layout, Cook was peerless.
Having comfortably progressed through both Part 1 and Part 2 of qualifying, the double BTCC Independents’ champion unleashed a spectacular effort in the 'Quick Six' session to outpace all of his adversaries for a fourth career pole position in the country’s premier motor racing series – his first in the Speedworks Motorsport-prepared Corolla GR Sport.
After having to give best away from the line in the curtain-raising contest to Colin Turkington’s fast-starting BMW, Cook focussed on staving off defending champion Ash Sutton, prior to conceding the spot when he caught a slide exiting the Old Hairpin on lap three. The Toyota Corolla GR Sport driver subsequently came under attack from fellow title protagonist Jake Hill, with a small mistake at the chicane on lap 12 costing him the place and restricting him to fourth at the chequered flag in the 20-strong field.
The Bath-born ace replicated that result in the second bout, going wide into Redgate but later benefitting from a retirement from championship leader Tom Ingram ahead to reclaim his starting position. After spending much of the race running at the tail-end of the lead battle, he came back at Hill in the closing stages but narrowly ran out of time to mount a challenge for the rostrum.
From eighth on the partially-reversed grid for the day’s finale, Cook made a bright start in front of the live ITV4 television cameras and capacity trackside crowd to climb to fifth on the opening tour, before engaging in an energetic duel with Adam Morgan.
Having got the better of his BMW rival, the 33-year-old stole fourth from Mikey Doble at The Esses, going on to chase down Árón Taylor-Smith while keeping Hill confidently at bay. His biggest points haul of the season – and the third-highest of the weekend – enabled Cook to close slightly on the championship lead with just six races left to run.
In the sister Toyota, team-mate Aiden Moffat missed out in the tricky mixed conditions in qualifying – leaving the Scot in 18th – but ever the hard-charger, he immediately leapt up to 13th in race one and went on to gain further ground to cross the finish line in 11th.
On a slightly damp circuit following a brief rain shower, Moffat showcased his skill in inclement conditions to snatch three places on the first lap of race two, only to find himself breaking his Corolla’s left-rear suspension.
A stellar repair job by the Speedworks crew enabled the 27-year-old Dalkeith native to begin the final encounter from the very back of the grid, and he had scythed his way forward to the foot of the top ten when he was caught in contact putting him out of contention at The Esses approaching mid-distance.
The 2024 BTCC campaign will resume at Silverstone on 21-22 September.
Christian Dick, Team Principal, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said: “The further we get into this season, the more of a threat Josh is becoming. He is now properly at home in the Corolla, and that is shining through in his consistently strong displays from one weekend to the next. His pole position lap in qualifying – in arguably the toughest session of the year so far – was nothing short of outstanding. To then follow that up with three top four finishes in the races keeps him very much in contention – and we all know that Josh will keep pushing right to the end.
“Aiden similarly showed some real speed at Donington. He was held back a bit initially by some differential dramas, but once they had been resolved, he really battled his way up the order. It was so unfortunate that two of his races ended due to contact not of his own making, as he could very well have been right up there in the mix for the podium with Josh in the last one had things turned out differently, but he should nonetheless take a lot of confidence from his excellent pace and performance.”
Josh Cook, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said: “It was obviously a very solid weekend in terms of points, and I was really pleased to take pole position in qualifying. The mixed conditions made it pretty unpredictable and a case of risk versus reward; in the faster parts of the lap, if you ran just a couple of inches wide you were on the wet stuff and then simply a passenger. It was so easy to make a mistake, so it was about picking the right moments to push.
“The Toyota felt really good. I could make it do what I wanted, make it dance around and get a lap time out of it, and we were consistently quick throughout the session – credit to the team for making changes to the car so quickly to handle the conditions.
“I’d hoped for a little bit better from race one, but for whatever reason, the tyres didn’t seem to switch on for us; every time I asked for a bit more through the high-speed sections, the car bit me pretty hard! I was never going to go down without a fight and I gave it everything I had, but ultimately, the pace and balance weren’t quite there.
“We nudged the Corolla a bit further in the right direction for race two, when we had some serious battles, and then in the last race, I did everything I could from eighth on the grid and maybe if there had been a couple more laps, we might have snatched a podium.”
Aiden Moffat, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said: “I went into the weekend full of energy and hoping for some great results after my win at Donington earlier in the season, but qualifying was tough. It was a real shame not getting a second ‘push’ lap in on a drying track in Q1; we just got caught out on timing, but the set-up felt great and the team worked hard overnight, so I felt confident going into Sunday and we came out fighting.
“Despite the differential issues, we did well to work our way through to 11th in race one, and once we’d rectified the problems ahead of race two, the Toyota was back to its best. We were getting quicker and quicker and looked to be on for a strong finish, and I was minding my own business when I got hit out of nowhere by a car I had already passed, which damaged the suspension.
“The team put in an amazing effort to get my Corolla back out for race three, although rather than starting right up towards the front of the reversed grid like we should have been, we were down in 20th. Still, the Toyota felt mega and we were flying through the pack, but as I made a move for ninth, I got taken out again and ended up in the gravel, which was obviously massively disappointing.
“All frustrations aside, the LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ guys and girls did a great job throughout. Sunday was just one of those days in racing that unfortunately happens sometimes when everybody is fighting hard – but we’ll go again at Silverstone!”
