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BTCC Donington Park: Josh Cook fastest in damp practice sessions

Power Maxed Racing's Josh Cook set the fastest time across the opening two free practice sessions ahead of the second BTCC round of the year at Donington Park

Both the 40-minute timed sessions were held in damp conditions, with the circuit only
drying slightly over the closing moments.

The 26-year-old eclipsed the factory Honda Civic Type R of Dan Cammish midway through the second period to record a lap of 1m19.863s.

"We still need to get faster, [as] everyone else will," said Cook.

"I never even look at the timesheets during qualifying, it is all about getting the balance of the car right and we still have a way to go to make it perfect.

"We also don't know what the weather is going to do [for qualifying this afternoon]. It is a muddled picture at the minute."

Behind Cammish, Chris Smiley took the third-best time in his BTC Norlin Honda Civic, while
Andrew Jordan's time from the opening period meant his WSR BMW 125i M Sport was
enough to put him fourth in the combined standings.

The 2013 title winner was forced to sit out the second period of the second session
when a turbo pipe failure was suspected on his German car and he drove his smoky car into the garage.

Also setting his fastest time in session one was reigning champion Ash Sutton, who recorded a 1m20.415s lap in the Team BMR Subaru Levorg to place fifth in the combined times.

However, he too was stuck by dramas in the second session when a suspected engine
problem meant he only recorded nine laps.

The combined top six was rounded out by the Eurotech Racing Honda Civic Type R of Brett Smith, who had a couple of small offs in the second session.

The second factory Honda of Matt Neal was in the wars, missing most of the second session following damage sustained after the three-time champion went off.

Jason Plato's Subaru Levorg also lost out on some running as it ground to a halt at the end of the pitlane. Plato returned to the action for the closing minutes.

The only red flag of the morning's running came in free practice two when Tom Chilton's
Motorbase Performance Ford Focus stopped at Schwantz Curve following an ECU
problem.

He managed to return to the pits and continue once the system had been reset.

FP1 results

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 1m19.925s
2 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 0.027s
3 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 0.432s
4 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 0.490s
5 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 0.554s
6 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 0.576s
7 James Cole Motorbase Ford 0.609s
8 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 0.704s
9 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 0.823s
10 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 0.843s
11 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 0.895s
12 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 0.908s
13 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 0.923s
14 James Nash BTC Norlin Honda 1.121s
15 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 1.191s
16 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 1.202s
17 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1.203s
18 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1.457s
19 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1.549s
20 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 1.643s
21 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 1.677s
22 Tom Boardman AmD Tuning MG 1.688s
23 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 1.762s
24 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 1.785s
25 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 1.976s
26 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 2.294s
27 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 2.589s
28 Rob Collard WSR BMW 2.925s
29 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 3.004s
30 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 6.645s
31 Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen -
32 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen -

FP2 results

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Josh Cook Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1m19.863s
2 Dan Cammish Team Dynamics Honda 0.379s
3 Chris Smiley BTC Norlin Honda 0.463s
4 Aiden Moffat Laser Tools Racing Mercedes 0.871s
5 Sam Tordoff Motorbase Ford 1.067s
6 Rory Butcher AmD Tuning MG 1.085s
7 Tom Chilton Motorbase Ford 1.100s
8 Tom Ingram Speedworks Toyota 1.102s
9 Tom Oliphant Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1.109s
10 Adam Morgan Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes 1.114s
11 Matt Simpson Eurotech Racing Honda 1.126s
12 Ash Sutton Team BMR Subaru 1.153s
13 Senna Proctor Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall 1.252s
14 James Nash BTC Norlin Honda 1.335s
15 Jack Goff Eurotech Racing Honda 1.364s
16 Ollie Jackson AmD Tuning Audi 1.406s
17 James Cole Motorbase Ford 1.492s
18 Brett Smith Eurotech Racing Honda 1.522s
19 Colin Turkington WSR BMW 1.555s
20 Rob Austin HMS Racing Alfa Romeo 1.675s
21 Andrew Jordan WSR BMW 1.774s
22 Josh Price Team BMR Subaru 1.822s
23 Stephen Jelley Team Parker Racing BMW 1.838s
24 Jake Hill Team Hard Volkswagen 1.865s
25 Tom Boardman AmD Tuning MG 1.872s
26 Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda 1.967s
27 Mike Bushell Team Hard Volkswagen 2.119s
28 Rob Collard WSR BMW 2.228s
29 Bobby Thompson Team Hard Volkswagen 2.617s
30 Jason Plato Team BMR Subaru 2.643s
31 Sam Smelt AmD Tuning Audi 2.993s
32 Michael Caine Team Hard Volkswagen 3.378s

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