Josh Cook has taken a dramatic pole position at Donington Park today (28 April), his first ever in the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.

The Power Maxed TAG Racing star left it until the final moments to complete a magical lap in tricky wet conditions as his Vauxhall Astra reproduced the pace it had already shown throughout practice.

Chris Smiley had also starred earlier in the day and he looked set to claim his own maiden pole position until being squeezed out by Cook, but the BTC Norlin Racing man still secured a career-best second on the grid.

Cook and Smiley’s last ditch efforts forced long-time leader Sam Tordoff down to third, although the Team GardX Racing with Motorbase driver can be pleased with his performance in the Ford Focus RS.

BTCC new boy Dan Cammish also waited until the final minutes to show his hand as the Halfords Yuasa Racing rookie hauled his Honda Civic Type R up to fourth, ahead of Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat.

Scotsman Moffat showed impressive speed during the 30-minute session but his run came to an unexpected early finish when front-right suspension damage saw his Mercedes slide straight on and into the gravel trap, his car eventually coming to a halt after nudging into the barrier.

A brief stoppage to the session followed to remove Moffat’s striken A-Class, with the aforementioned drama ensuing after the restart.

Brands Hatch race-winner Jack Goff took sixth in his ballast-laden WIX Racing with Eurotech Honda as he incredibly set the exact same lap time as series returnee James Nash. The latter had to settle for seventh but it still completed a fantastic and emotional day for the BTC Norlin Racing squad and its Team Principal Bert Taylor.

Tom Chilton made it two Fords in the top eight, whilst Brett Smith continued his eye-catching progress in the BTCC with ninth.

Tom Oliphant completed the top ten as the young talent showed great car control in his Ciceley Motorsport Mercedes, out-pacing his more experienced team-mate Adam Morgan in the process.

A host of household names failed to trouble the top ten, including the likes of Tom Ingram (16th), Matt Neal (17th), Rob Austin (20th), Jason Plato (21st), Ash Sutton (22nd), Rob Collard (25th) and Andrew Jordan (30th), whilst double champ Colin Turkington did well to wrestle his tricky handling BMW up to 11th.

Rounds 4, 5 and 6 of the 2018 Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship take place at Donington Park tomorrow (29 April).  Pre-weekend ticket sales suggest a big crowd will be descending on the famous Leicestershire venue, whilst many more will be watching the action live and exclusively on ITV4 from 1040.