Josh Cook praised his BTC Racing team for repairing his car after his big crash in the opening British Touring Car Championship race at Knockhill, even though the Somerset racer was only able to leave Scotland with a single point.
Cook was able to qualify his Honda Civic Type-R as the best of the team’s drivers in 11th, giving him a reasonable chance of scoring good points in Sunday’s opening race.
However, in the team’s 100th BTCC race since its re-formation, Cook endured yet more misfortune in the opening race when a puncture on lap five pitched him into the tyres at Butcher’s backwards at high speed.
The damage to the rear of the Honda was extensive, with the left-rear wheel ripped off and significant damage to the rear of the bodyshell.
The team worked hard to repair Cook’s car to enable him to start from the back of the grid for race two, with the car completed with just minutes to spare.
In the race, though, Cook was again in the wrong place at the wrong time and contact from Jack Butel on the opening lap spun him into the gravel at McIntyre’s and Cook was again forced to watch from the sidelines.
Again starting from the back for race three, Cook made up nine places to score a solitary point in 15th from a weekend which promised more.
“There’s really not much I can say about this weekend,” said Cook, who has slipped to 16th in the drivers’ championship standings. “Yet again, we’ve come away with a single point from three races and another two DNFs through no fault of our own.
“I can’t praise the BTC Racing crew enough for the epic job they pulled off to get my car repaired and back out for race two. They really did work miracles. I’m just sorry that work was rewarded out on track.
“I’m just looking ahead to Thruxton now. It’s my local track, and we took two wins there last year so we know that the Honda performs there.
“We have the benefit of being weight-free again, so have to be confident going into the next round.”
Bert Taylor, Joint Team Principal, was in awe of the team’s mechanics for their efforts to ensure Cook didn’t miss the start of race two following his earlier crash.
“Josh’s crash in race one caused by a puncture was meteoric,” said Taylor. “The lads have my utter respect to have managed to get him back out for race two
“It was nothing short of amazing, an immense effort. Yet again I’m so proud of the team effort this weekend, their work ethic is awesome.”