BTC Racing’s Josh Cook says he was happy to execute his “game plan” en route to victory in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Thruxton.
Cook, who has secured silverware in every BTCC round other than Oulton Park so far in 2019, admitted in recent rounds he has had to play the long game and make the results count in the latter stages of the day.
He told TouringCars.Net he could go all-out attack this time around at Thruxton, and he was happy to capitalise as the cars ahead of him struggled with success ballast.
“It’s rare that the game plan works out in touring cars!
“It depends what happens on Saturday really when you’ve got a lot of weight at a rear-wheel drive orientated circuit like Croft, Snetterton or Oulton, it makes things more difficult for you at the start of the day on a Sunday,” said Cook.
“But we didn’t have that issue this weekend. We were quick in qualifying – probably a little bit out of position, we could have been higher up – but we just needed to finish race one.
“Really happy with fourth [in race one], we kept the same weight that we had. So we could just dial in the car a little bit more.
“We just had to get through the first lap and try to find a way past the guys in front, I knew that they were struggling with the success ballast.
“Luckily it all came at once and then we held on.”
The victory now marks three wins from the last three visits at Cook’s home circuit, which is now becoming a happy hunting ground.
“The last three visits here we’ve had three wins – so I’ll take that!
“That’s the third win for us this year, we’ve had a podium every single weekend other than Oulton, which we would have had if it wasn’t for a penalty,” he said.
“We’re playing the long game, but there’s a long way to go to catch those BMWs. We’ll see if we can get a few more points in race three.”
With the top six reversed for the final race of the day at the Hampshire circuit, Cook is feeling confident of his chances despite carrying maximum weight.
“It’s not much more than we’ve had in the previous races, it’ll hinder us a little as it’s a heavy mass but I think we’ve collected a lot of data for setup now,” Cook said.
“We can start making a few tweaks. I’m happy with the best possible reverse pull for us.
“I fancy another good result in race three. We’ve obviously got the Beemers around us with no weight so they’re going to be quick but we’ll see what we can do.”
The final race of the British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton is scheduled to get underway at 17:25 BST.