Josh Cook maximised a tyre advantage to cut through the field and lead home a 1-2 finish for Toyota in the second British Touring Car Championship race at Croft.
Both Cook and fellow Speedworks-run Toyota Rob Huff started on the fourth row of the grid, but with the benefit of having the softer-compound Goodyear tyres, versus hard tyres for the six cars ahead in a role reversal from race one.
The pair made steady progress to rise to the front of the field at a third distance, with Huff leading Cook by a little over half a second.
And so the status quo remained until Cook made a bold lunge to the inside of the Jim Clark Esses with three laps to go, forcing Huff wide on the exit and handing Cook a lead from which he would never be headed, taking the chequered flag 0.7 seconds clear to register a 20th career win in the BTCC.
Daniel Rowbottom enjoyed a similar charge through the order to round out the podium in his NAPA Racing UK-run Ford, and amidst the late-race squabble between the two Toyotas ahead finished just two tenths of a second adrift.
Tom Ingram (EXCERL8 Hyundai) had led the race in the early stages after a bold move around the outside of Tower on pole-sitter Colin Turkington but elected three laps in a row at Tower to allow Huff, then Cook and finally Rowbottom through on their quicker tyres.
That strategy gave Ingram some breathing space, whilst for race one winner Turkington, things went from bad to worse.
The Team BMW star was hit from behind under braking for Tower by Ash Sutton’s NAPA Ford, sending him spinning back across the track and down the order to eighth.
There, he sat frustrated by Aron Taylor-Smith’s Power Maxed Racing-run Vauxhall Astra, who put in a typically robust defence behind Sutton and team-mate Dan Cammish to frustrate Turkington and claim seventh, plus a 12th Independent win of the campaign.
Turkington had also been soaking up pressure from WSR team-mate and erstwhile championship leader Jake Hill, but he was pitched into a spin and hit the barrier at Sunny Out after contact on the apex from Tom Chilton.
Chilton continued in his soft-shod Hyundai, and later passed Turkington to claim eighth and ninth respectively, with Aiden Moffat’s Toyota rounding out the top ten.
Mikey Doble claimed another Jack Sears Trophy win and 11th overall in the other PMR Vauxhall Astra, comfortably beating former team-mate Andrew Watson in the final Toyota behind.
Sam Osborne (Ford) was next, with two CUPRAs – Daryl Deleon and Scott Sumpton – rounding out the points scorers. Hill was eventually classified 16th ahead of Nick Halsted (Hyundai), with Adam Morgan 18th after suffering a suspected puncture at Tower and having to pit.
Chris Smiley’s CUPRA was 19th at the flag, the field completed by Ronan Pearson (Hyundai) after a mid-race pit stop for the young Scot.
The reverse grid race completes the Croft weekend at 17:00 (BST).
Race result
| POS | NO | CL | NAT | DRIVER | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | BEST | GD |
| 1 | 66 | M |  |
Josh COOK | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 21:03.148 | 1:22.625 | 8 |
| 2 | 12 | M | |
Rob HUFF | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 0.742 | 1:22.826 | 7 |
| 3 | 32 | M | |
Daniel ROWBOTTOM | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 0.954 | 1:22.921 | 10 |
| 4 | 80 | M | |
Tom INGRAM | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 6.257 | 1:23.514 | 2 |
| 5 | 1 | M | |
Ashley SUTTON | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 8.115 | 1:23.902 | 4 |
| 6 | 27 | M | |
Dan CAMMISH | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 8.770 | 1:23.584 | 3 |
| 7 | 40 | I |  |
Árón TAYLOR-SMITH | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 16.772 | 1:24.018 | 5 |
| 8 | 3 | M | |
Tom CHILTON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 15 | 17.248 | 1:23.668 | 9 |
| 9 | 20 | M | |
Colin TURKINGTON | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 17.967 | 1:23.968 | 1 |
| 10 | 16 | M | |
Aiden MOFFAT | LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 18.358 | 1:24.102 | 14 |
| 11 | 88 | I | |
Mikey DOBLE | Evans Halshaw Power Maxed Racing | Vauxhall Astra | 15 | 18.820 | 1:24.120 | 11 |
| 12 | 11 | M | |
Andrew WATSON | TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK | Toyota Corolla GR Sport | 15 | 23.271 | 1:24.151 | 12 |
| 13 | 77 | M | |
Sam OSBORNE | NAPA Racing UK | Ford Focus ST | 15 | 23.352 | 1:24.380 | 19 |
| 14 | 18 | I |  |
Daryl DELEON | Duckhams Racing with Bartercard | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 25.092 | 1:24.119 | 18 |
| 15 | 29 | I | |
Scott SUMPTON | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 15 | 25.374 | 1:24.054 | 17 |
| 16 | 24 | M | |
Jake HILL | Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport | BMW 330e M Sport | 15 | 29.948 | 1:24.002 | 6 |
| 17 | 33 | M | |
Adam MORGAN | Team BMW | BMW 330e M Sport | 13 | + 2 LAPS | 1:23.464 | 13 |
| R | 22 | M | |
Nick HALSTEAD | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 14 | DNF | 1:25.374 | 20 |
| R | 222 | I | |
Chris SMILEY | Restart Racing | CUPRA Leon | 12 | DNF | 1:23.930 | 15 |
| R | 14 | M | |
Ronan PEARSON | BRISTOL STREET MOTORS | Hyundai i30 N Fastback | 7 | DNF | 1:23.607 | 16 |