Josh Cook says he is ‘proud’ of achieving a consistent campaign in the 2024 British Touring Car Championship season, even though he missed having a genuine title chance in the final meeting of the year at Brands Hatch.
Cook concluded his season with a seventh and a third, following a race one retirement, which saw him end the year sixth overall in the drivers’ championship standings.
The Speedworks Motorsport driver had qualified his Toyota Corolla in fourth for Sunday’s opening race, but he was involved in a first-lap incident with Tom Ingram and Ash Sutton which he says was caused by a puncture two corners into the race.
That resulted in a retirement, and from 18th on the grid Cook charged through in the second race, along with team-mate Aiden Moffat, to clinch seventh at the chequered flag.
That meant Cook lucked into the reverse grid draw for the finale, with the top seven drivers selected to be reversed, giving Cook pole.
Although he was unable to keep a charging Sutton behind, Cook concluded his season with third after new champion Jake Hill also powered past him.
“We felt in a decent place from the outset at Brands, and from fourth on the grid, I went into Sunday aiming to have some fun,” said Cook.
“The puncture in race one pitched the car out of control and there was nothing I could do to catch it; as soon as I hit the brakes, the rears just locked and sent me round and it was unfortunate that we caught Ash and Tom.
“We had a really good second race from the back; that was a strong drive from Aiden [Moffat, team-mate] and myself as we worked together to fight our way through.
“We wanted to give ourselves the best possible opportunity for the reversed grid draw, which we obviously got, and I gave it a good go again in race three. We didn’t quite have enough in the end, but I didn’t go down without a fight.
“We know our car isn’t the outright quickest in the wet, but I love conditions like that and I just hustled it as hard as I could.
“I tried to make it really difficult for Ash, but it was clear he was much faster and I was pleased to finish third considering how the day had begun.
“I think overall, we can be proud of the job we’ve done and particularly the progress we’ve made. Since Oulton Park, we’ve been very, very strong and in the mix every single weekend – if the season had started there, the championship table would have looked very different!
“Ultimately, we didn’t produce enough earlier in the year, and the BTCC is so fiercely competitive that it’s difficult to claw back lost ground, but I’m proud of the consistent performance we’ve shown every weekend from Oulton onwards and how we’ve worked as a team.
“When the chips have been down, we’ve always dug deep, and I think we can walk away from this season with our heads held high.”