Despite being disappointed at finishing second in the first British Touring Car Championship race of the day at Silverstone, Josh Cook admitted he was pleased to be beaten by MG team-mate Ashley Sutton, if it had to be anybody, as the team secured a first one-two finish since 2014.
Both MG6 GT machines made poor getaways, losing first and third to Tom Ingram and Andrew Jordan respectively. However, both staged comebacks, and a brace of characteristically firm moves into Luffield from Cook rewarded him with the runner-up spot.
He closed on Sutton in the final stages of the contest, however chose to concede and bring the car home behind his rookie team-mate, who claimed a second career victory.
Despite electing to not fight Sutton at the end, Cook explained that was far from the strategy beforehand.
“I didn’t’ want to make it easy for him (Sutton),” admitted Cook.
“We both had pretty bad starts. We fought our way back through and there was a bit of a tussle.”
He also pointed to Sutton’s longevity on the softer compound tyre at the end of the race as a factor in his inability to get past, and admitted to being conscious of avoiding any unnecessary contact.
“I knew he was on softs but he didn’t drop off. We wanted to just keep it on the track and bring home a one-two.”
“We’ve shown the MG has some real pace. I was a bit gutted not to win but if anyone was going to beat me I’d rather it be my team-mate.”
Cook will start race two with 66 kilograms of success ballast on board by virtue of his success in the opening contest, and will look to score a first career victory from the front row.