BTCC Brands Hatch: Josh Cook tops practice ahead of season finale
Triple Eight MG racer Josh Cook topped both free practice sessions ahead of the British Touring Car Championship showdown at Brands Hatch on Sunday
Both of the 40-minute sessions were affected by rain, which is expected to continue into the afternoon and blight qualifying, which takes place at 15:40 local time.
Cook topped the times in the opening session in the morning with a 1m40.042s lap, ahead of Mat Jackson (Motorbase Performance Ford Focus) and Rob Austin (Handy Motorsport Toyota Avensis).
In the second session, the MG6 racer headed Jackson and Speedworks Toyota Avensis driver Tom Ingram with a lap of 1m43.790s.
Championship leader Sam Tordoff, carrying 75kg of ballast in his WSR BMW 125i M Sport, was 12th in the opening session and 14th in the second.
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His main rivals for the championship, factory Honda Civic Type R drivers Gordon Shedden and Matt Neal, were fourth and 12th in the second session.
Second practice was interrupted when Matt Simpson slid off the circuit at Paddock Hill Bend, and then it was halted later on when he went off the track again at Druids and knocked the rear wing off the Speedworks Motorsport Honda Civic Type R.
A third red flag came with five minutes to go when Stewart Lines went off at Paddock in his Maximum Motorsport Ford Focus.
Last year's pole time was Mat Jackson with a 1m 30.685s, set on a dry circuit.
FIRST PRACTICE TIMES
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josh Cook | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 1m40.042s | 17 |
2 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 0.366s | 16 |
3 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 0.894s | 18 |
4 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 1.166s | 17 |
5 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 1.479s | 15 |
6 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Toyota | 2.014s | 18 |
7 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Toyota | 2.045s | 15 |
8 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 2.094s | 14 |
9 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 2.502s | 16 |
10 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 2.537s | 15 |
11 | Alex Martin | Team Parker Racing | Ford | 2.579s | 20 |
12 | Ash Sutton | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 2.863s | 16 |
13 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 2.896s | 17 |
14 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 3.072s | 15 |
15 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 3.319s | 14 |
16 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 3.742s | 14 |
17 | Matt Simpson | Speedworks Motorsport | Honda | 3.755s | 14 |
18 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 3.771s | 17 |
19 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Subaru | 3.867s | 16 |
20 | Jack Goff | WSR | BMW | 4.297s | 14 |
21 | Andrew Jordan | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 4.352s | 17 |
22 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 4.371s | 18 |
23 | Hunter Abbott | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 4.492s | 18 |
24 | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | 4.500s | 19 |
25 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 4.511s | 13 |
26 | Stewart Lines | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | 4.752s | 21 |
27 | Tony Gilham | Team Hard | Toyota | 4.895s | 14 |
28 | Mark Howard | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 5.095s | 19 |
29 | Kelvin Fletcher | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 5.447s | 11 |
30 | Martin Depper | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 5.624s | 16 |
31 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Subaru | 6.389s | 16 |
SECOND PRACTICE TIMES
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Josh Cook | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 1m43.790s | 16 |
2 | Mat Jackson | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 0.267s | 16 |
3 | Tom Ingram | Speedworks Motorsport | Toyota | 0.293s | 14 |
4 | Gordon Shedden | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 0.330s | 15 |
5 | Aron Taylor-Smith | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 0.427s | 14 |
6 | Ash Sutton | Triple Eight/MG | MG | 0.440s | 15 |
7 | Andrew Jordan | Motorbase Performance | Ford | 0.669s | 14 |
8 | Adam Morgan | Ciceley Racing | Mercedes | 0.680s | 15 |
9 | Colin Turkington | Team BMR | Subaru | 0.709s | 16 |
10 | Michael Epps | Team Hard | Toyota | 0.766s | 14 |
11 | Ollie Jackson | AmD Tuning | Audi | 0.840s | 15 |
12 | Matt Neal | Dynamics/Honda | Honda | 0.867s | 13 |
13 | Jake Hill | Team Hard | Toyota | 1.266s | 10 |
14 | Sam Tordoff | WSR | BMW | 1.292s | 14 |
15 | Jason Plato | Team BMR | Subaru | 1.358s | 15 |
16 | Hunter Abbott | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 1.418s | 15 |
17 | Rob Austin | Handy Motorsport | Toyota | 1.619s | 14 |
18 | James Cole | Team BMR | Subaru | 1.729s | 17 |
19 | Aiden Moffat | Laser Tools Racing | Mercedes | 1.749s | 14 |
20 | Daniel Welch | Welch Motorsport | Proton | 1.980s | 17 |
21 | Jack Goff | WSR | BMW | 2.318s | 14 |
22 | Warren Scott | Team BMR | Subaru | 2.365s | 16 |
23 | Rob Collard | WSR | BMW | 2.392s | 13 |
24 | Jeff Smith | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 2.840s | 12 |
25 | Stewart Lines | Maximum Motorsport | Ford | 3.213s | 14 |
26 | Matt Simpson | Speedworks Motorsport | Honda | 3.381s | 6 |
27 | Tony Gilham | Team Hard | Toyota | 3.462s | 15 |
28 | Kelvin Fletcher | Power Maxed Racing | Chevrolet | 3.956s | 15 |
29 | Martin Depper | Eurotech Racing | Honda | 4.027s | 14 |
30 | Mark Howard | Team BKR | Volkswagen | 7.650s | 14 |
31 | Alex Martin | Team Parker Racing | Ford | - | 1 |
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