Josh Cook says a British Touring Car Championship podium is within reach after a near-miss at Donington Park.
The Power Maxed Racing driver impressed during Saturday’s qualifying session having secured sixth, but a decision to run the soft tyre in race one counted against him as he dropped to 13th.
That, however, was followed by a drive through the field to seventh in the day’s second race, which was rewarded with a reverse-grid pole position for round six of the championship.
Despite losing pole to Rob Collard off the line, Cook battled back and regained the lead on the third lap, but eventually finished in seventh after a clash with Team BMR’s Aron Smith.
Spekaing to TouringCars.Net, Cook admitted that he was disappointed to have missed out on a podium finish, but was able to take some comfort from the pace that he and his team had displayed.
“It’s not too bad,” he said. “Sixth place wouldn’t have been bad if I’d started tenth but it is a bit disappointing for me given our out-and-out race pace.
“It wasn’t like we started the race and struggled for pace and I slowly dropped down the order, the reason that we lost all of that time was because of contact.
“Other than that, the car has been rapid all weekend – I felt really comfortable with it and I want to try and carry this momentum through to Thruxton because the guys have done a top job and I’m feeling really racy at the minute.”
The incident with Smith occurred as the pair jostled for the lead on lap 14, with Smith edging across the front of Cook’s Chevrolet Cruze as they headed through the Craner Curves.
But Cook was understanding of the Irishman’s move, insisting that it was nothing more than a misjudgment.
“He [Smith] just got a hook-up on the exit of Redgate and I had a tiny bit of wheelspin and he just pulled up alongside me.
“Those cars are just so fast in a straight line and as he’s just crept past me he’s tried to cut my nose off going into Craner Curves. It wasn’t malicious, he’s just misjudged the length of his car, just nipped me and sent us both off – it’s just one of those things.
“But I’ve had a great time and I want to carry on pushing towards the front.”
Smith had latched onto his rear after a safety car was deployed to clear Sam Tordoff and Jack Goff’s cars, and Cook admitted that, with himself and Collard having built a five-second lead, it was disappointing to see that margin eroded.
“[I was] pretty annoyed,” he said. “We’d put in a lot of hard work at the start on those few laps and I’d done everything I could – they were qualifying-style laps – to be making that gap and I got past Rob because I wanted to make use of the car while he was on softs [tyres] and they were coming up to temperature.
“As soon as his car switched on I really noticed it and I had to try and maintain the gap and he was closing a little bit each lap but I knew the race was going to come to me if I just kept the pace up and kept it clean but sadly the safety car ruined that.”
The former Clio Cup driver was nevertheless pleased with the progress that he and his team had made over the weekend, and insisted that a podium remained his goal heading to Thruxton.
“In race one we had to run the soft tyre, [and] everyone that’s had to run it this weekend seems to be going backwards in the races but that’s what makes it interesting.
“I made the recovery in race two and I felt like we deserved to be on pole position. I feel like we’ve made a big progression with the team and the car’s ability so we’re going to try and carry this forward to Thruxton and try to get back on the podium.
“It’s a very high-speed circuit, our car’s very good – it’s a saloon and it’s got good drag and we’ve got a good engine – so we’re going to be right in the mix from the word go I think and we’re going to keep pushing until we hit the front of the grid.”