Josh Cook has doubled up as the BTC Racing star scored his second Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory of the day at Thruxton.
The contest was interrupted by two major incidents, resulting in no fewer than four cars with significant damage.
The Ford Focus of Andy Neate (Racing with Wera & Photon Group) made contact with Glynn Geddie's Cupra Leon (Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct), whilst Jade Edwards' Honda (PHSC with BTC Racing) was also collected as the cars ran through turn one for the first time.
All three cars made heavy contact with the barrier, and the Team HARD-run machine of Geddie barrel-rolled to an eventual standstill. The drivers involved were thankfully unharmed in the accident but the race was immediately halted by a red flag.
The restart got off to a similar start when the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK car of Rory Butcher slammed into a tyre-stack after a high-speed run through Noble, as the Scotsman battled with MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill and Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com's Tom Ingram.
The second race of the season eventually settled, but not before pole-sitter Cook had slid through the Complex into Ingram's Hyundai i30N, although both cars were able to continue relatively unscathed.
Cook held P1 from start-to-finish and was joined by the perfect rear-gunner in the shape of BTC Racing team-mate Dan Cammish, who ensured that Hill had to settle for third – albeit securing a second impressive podium of the day for the Ford Focus man.
Halfords Racing with Cataclean's Daniel Rowbottom snatched a fantastic fourth after he got the better of two-time champion Jason Plato, as the Honda driver made a stellar move stick on the exit of the final chicane.
Ingram claimed another top six finish, having been compromised by the earlier incident with Cook, as well as then dealing with the attentions of Team BMW's Colin Turkington for much of the race.
Laser Tools Racing's Aiden Moffat and Ash Sutton were eighth and ninth respectively, with the latter producing another stunning recovery drive following an early pit stop that sent him to the rear of the field.
The Team BMW duo of Tom Oliphant and Stephen Jelley were next in the order, with both having reason to celebrate post-race after it was confirmed that they will occupy the front row of the grid for the final encounter of the day.
Race 3 of the 2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton will start at 1720 with action continuing live on ITV4 throughout the day.
Josh Cook said: “It definitely helped having my team-mate with me there. I’ve got to say, huge thanks to Dan – I’m sure he could have made my life a lot more difficult. Another one-two for BTC Racing and our second win of the day – we’ve got off to a dream start. Of course there’s still another race to go, but this is just incredible.
"The car has been mega, even with the weight in. Having raced around here before with 75kg on-board, I didn’t really expect that, to be honest. Huge credit to the team – this is just brilliant.”
Dan Cammish said: “You’ve got to swallow your ego every now and again and it was the right call. I knew with 75kg [of success ballast] that Josh would hit a wall at some point, and he did, so I just came on the radio and said 'what’s the plan?' and they said they’d really appreciate it if that was the result and you can’t argue with that.
"Josh has been doing fantastically all weekend, really fast, especially out of Church. I’ve seen on the data what he does there, and he must have had his cereal this morning. I’m very happy for myself, the team and Josh, it’s a great result for BTC Racing."
Jake Hill said: "It’s been brilliant. The first start, I had an absolute monster. I got alongside Ingram, but then the restart was terrible. But we again had a very good first lap. Unfortunate for Rory [Butcher] in the middle of all that. But we came through, with a solid third again and the car was a lot better then even with the weight.
"The Hondas are rapid, there’s no question about it. Josh, even with the weight on board, did a fantastic job so fair play to him. Dan obviously drove really well as well, to be honest I was just really happy to hold onto them. I wasn’t able to do that jump, but I was with them pretty much the whole way so it’s a big step forward for us with the Focus."
2021 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – Race 2 – Thruxton
1 Josh COOK (GBR) BTC Racing 15 laps
2 Dan CAMMISH (GBR) BTC Racing +0.234s
3 Jake HILL (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +1.625s
4 Daniel ROWBOTTOM (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +4.655s
5 Jason PLATO (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +4.976s
6 Tom INGRAM (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +6.961s
7 Colin TURKINGTON (GBR) Team BMW +7.303s
8 Aiden MOFFAT (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +9.291s
9 Ashley SUTTON (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +10.055s
10 Tom OLIPHANT (GBR) Team BMW +11.411s
11 Stephen JELLEY (GBR) Team BMW +13.259s
12 Jack GOFF (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +13.759s
13 Ollie JACKSON (GBR) MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square +15.311s
14 Daniel LLOYD (GBR) Adrian Flux with Power Maxed Racing +15.826s
15 Árón TAYLOR-SMITH (IRL) Team HARD. with HUB Financial Solutions +16.944s
16 Sam OSBORNE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +17.540s
17 Carl BOARDLEY (GBR) Laser Tools Racing +19.551s
18 Gordon SHEDDEN (GBR) Halfords Racing with Cataclean +19.914s
19 Jack BUTEL (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +26.245s
20 Sam SMELT (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +26.623s
21 Adam MORGAN (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +32.085s
22 Nicolas HAMILTON (GBR) ROKiT Racing with iQuoto Online Trading +35.931s
23 Chris SMILEY (GBR) Ginsters EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +1 lap
24 Rick PARFITT (GBR) EXCELR8 with TradePriceCars.com +7 laps
25 Rory BUTCHER (GBR) Toyota Gazoo Racing UK +15 laps
26 Tom CHILTON (GBR) Car Gods with Ciceley Motorsport +15 laps
27 Jade EDWARDS (GBR) PHSC with BTC Racing +15 laps
28 Glynn GEDDIE (GBR) Team HARD. with Autobrite Direct +15 laps
29 Andy NEATE (GBR) Racing with Wera & Photon Group +15 laps
