One Motorsport showed its fighting spirit in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship this past weekend (May 10-11) as the team battled forward on race day to tally a brace of top-six finishes at Brands Hatch.
Taking centre stage at a sun-drenched Kent venue for the second meeting of the 2025 season, Josh Cook led the line for the Honda Civic Type R squad as he clinched two sixth place drives while team-mate Stephen Jelley chalked up a pair of points finishes.
Aiming to build on the season-opener at Donington Park, the two-time Independent Teams’ champions struggled for pace in their front-wheel-drive machines throughout practice.
Come qualifying, Jelley would fair the better out of the two drivers as he progressed into Q2 before settling for 12th while Cook managed 17th overall.
On race day, both drivers would score points in the opening encounter as Jelley scrapped in the midfield to finish 14th and Cook - who was celebrating a milestone 300th race in the UK’s premier motorsport series - moved forward to 15th on the less favourable hard tyre.
Race two proved to be one of attrition for both drivers as they found themselves in the thick of the action from the get-go. Despite the safety car making two appearances, Cook and Jelley showcased their overtaking prowess on the soft tyre to move forward through the pack.
Cook charged up to sixth come the chequered flag with Jelley narrowly missed out on breaking into the top ten. The reverse grid draw placed Cook on the second row of the grid for the final race of the day however a poor start saw the multiple race winner dropped down the order during the opening exchanges.
After the opening exchanges, the front-wheel-drive ace was soon a man on a mission as he fought back to finish sixth. Further back, Jelley fought valiantly on the hard tyre to maintain his 100% finishing record.
Leaving Brands Hatch, the team remain within striking distance of the Independent Teams’ Championship summit while both drivers are in the mix at the top of the Independent Drivers’ Championship.
Stephen Jelley, #12 One Motorsport: "There are some real positives and of course a few frustrations to take away from the weekend. I’ve got to keep reminding myself that I’m new to this car so the results aren’t going to come straight away. That being said, qualifying on Saturday was good and we managed to improve the car across races one and two while on the soft tyre. I made a slight error on the hard tyre in race three but we can learn from that and make sure we come back stronger next time out at Snetterton."
Josh Cook, #66 One Motorsport: "It was a tough race day and the results aren’t what we wanted but there are positives to take in terms of the balance that we’ve found with the car. On that basis I’m pretty pleased with what we’ve been able to develop and understand. Saturday was challenging and I basically had two car crews working on my car until the early hours of race day so a big thank you to all of them. It was a typical BTCC race day but we managed to come out of it with two top six finishes; now it’s about going forward at Snetterton.”
The 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season continues in less than a fortnight as the series heads to Snetterton in Norfolk on May 24-25 for Rounds 7, 8 and 9.
