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BTCC Brands Hatch: Cook doubles up with lights-to-flag drive

Josh Cook put in an exquisite performance to make it two wins out of two in the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit round of the British Touring Car Championship after soaking up race-long pressure.

Watch: BTCC: Brands Hatch Indy Race 2 in 100 seconds

Cook and his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R spent most of the race under enormous pressure from the West Surrey Racing-run BMW 330e M Sport of Jake Hill, only for a spin by the Kentishman on the penultimate lap to allow Dan Cammish through into second place and push Cook to the finish.

Hill, from fourth on the grid, was able to use the traction of his rear-wheel-drive BMW to burst through to second and briefly threaten Cook in a race that started on a damp track, with the whole field on wet-weather Goodyears.

By quarter-distance Hill was right behind Cook, but at halfway the redheaded West Countryman pulled a gap of just over a second.

Hill then got his head down and, with eight laps remaining, was right with Cook.

But Cook, despite running with a 15-lap reduction of hybrid usage compared to Hill’s nine, was able to soak up everything the BMW driver threw at him.

By the penultimate lap, Hill now had the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus of Cammish right in his wheeltracks in a three-car train for the lead, but a mistake at the Druids hairpin resulted in a spin for the BMW down to sixth place.

Cammish took up the cudgels, but Cook never looked like making a mistake and crossed the finish line 0.253 seconds in front.

Josh Cook, Rich Energy BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R

Josh Cook, Rich Energy BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R

Photo by: JEP / Motorsport Images

Rory Butcher, running the same tyres as everyone else this time on his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla, had an entertaining mid-race battle for third with Cammish and battled briefly for second with Hill, but slipped back into a lonely drive to complete the podium after Hill’s spin.

Up to fourth came the second Motorbase Ford of Ash Sutton, which fell out of the top 10 early on but appeared to have a set-up that came into its own as the circuit dried a little.

Championship leader Tom Ingram had looked set for the position in his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N, but the charging Sutton loomed into his mirrors and slipped inside at Druids moments after Hill’s spin.

Hill also lost a place on the final lap to the Team Dynamics Honda of Gordon Shedden, while Dan Lloyd (Excelr8 Hyundai), George Gamble (Ciceley Motorsport BMW) and the fading Colin Turkington (WSR BMW) completed the top 10.

The top 12 have been reversed on the grid for race three, meaning Tom Chilton (Excelr8 Hyundai) starts on pole alongside the Team Hard Cupra Leon of Bobby Thompson.

BTCC Brands Hatch Race 2 results - 24 laps

Cla Driver Laps Time
1 United Kingdom Josh Cook 24 21'48.632
2 United Kingdom Dan Cammish 24 0.253
3 United Kingdom Rory Butcher 24 0.932
4 United Kingdom Ashley Sutton 24 4.381
5 United Kingdom Tom Ingram 24 7.185
6 United Kingdom Gordon Shedden 24 10.086
7 United Kingdom Jake Hill 24 10.384
8 United Kingdom Daniel Lloyd 24 10.889
9 George Gamble 24 11.965
10 United Kingdom Colin Turkington 24 12.666
11 Bobby Thompson 24 13.032
12 United Kingdom Tom Chilton 24 13.558
13 United Kingdom Jason Plato 24 17.570
14 United Kingdom Ollie Jackson 24 18.143
15 Jade Edwards 24 18.316
16 Ireland Aron Taylor-Smith 24 22.026
17 United Kingdom Ricky Collard 24 23.999
18 United Kingdom Stephen Jelley 24 24.900
19 Jersey Jack Butel 24 25.117
20 United Kingdom Sam Osborne 24 31.305
21 Nicolas Hamilton 24 38.800
22 Rick Parfitt Jr. 24 39.506
23 Will Powell 23 1 lap
24 United Kingdom Aiden Moffat 21 3 laps
25 Michael Crees 7 17 laps
26 United Kingdom Daniel Rowbottom 0  
27 United Kingdom Ash Hand 0  
28 Dexter Patterson 0  

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