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CLASSY COOK AT IT AGAIN AT THRUXTON

Josh Cook’s affiliation with Thruxton Circuit continues as the One Motorsport with Starline Racing man set the pace in the opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship Free Practice session this morning.

The Honda Civic Type R racer has made a stuttering start to his title challenge with his team adapting to a new engine for 2023, but there’s encouraging signs for the weekend ahead as he ended up nearly half a second ahead of the chasing pack.

There was a quartet of familiar faces next in the order with five different manufacturers represented in the top five positions.

Championship leader Ash Sutton (NAPA Racing UK) was second, ahead of Tom Ingram (BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8), Jake Hill (Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport) and Rory Butcher (TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK).

Hill, Sutton and Cook all enjoyed spells at the top whilst the lap times sat in the 1:16s bracket, before the latter dipped well under that mark later in the session.

NAPA Racing UK’s Dan Cammish was just 0.008s behind Butcher as the chequered flag waved to round out the leading six drivers, whilst Árón Taylor-Smith (CarStore Power Maxed Racing), Colin Turkington (Team BMW), Daniel Lloyd (Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils) and Stephen Jelley (Team BMW) completed the top ten.

Free Practice 2 takes place at 1200 before Qualifying for Round 10 of the 2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship commences at 1525, and will be streamed live via the ITV YouTube channel.

Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing, said: “It was a good way to start. We don’t really know what everyone is doing, but we just need to concentrate on ourselves and keep trying to make those small improvements.

“We are doing all of the right things and slowly trying to improve the car by making logical decisions – we are not doing any silly mistakes, it is just frustrating as we want to be at the front and we have not been so far this season. We have been clinging onto the top bunch, but that is not where we really expected to be. The package is definitely a good one, but we are just struggling to find that sweet spot. In this game if you are not fully on the money, even if its just a couple of tenths, that’s enough to put you in the midfield. 

“We are making ground. Snetterton particularly was a big step forward for us, and hopefully we can keep working on the car this weekend, challenge those guys ahead a bit more often and turn our championship campaign around a bit.”

2023 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship – FP1 – Thruxton

1. Josh Cook, One Motorsport with Starline Racing 1:15.577s
2. Ashley Sutton, NAPA Racing UK +0.469s
3. Tom Ingram, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +0.537s
4. Jake Hill, Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport +0.601s
5. Rory Butcher, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +0.635s
6. Dan Cammish, NAPA Racing UK +0.643s
7. Árón Taylor-Smith, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +0.942s
8. Colin Turkington, Team BMW +0.960s
9. Daniel Lloyd, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +0.999s
10. Stephen Jelley, Team BMW +1.055s
11. Daniel Rowbottom, NAPA Racing UK +1.060s
12. Ricky Collard, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +1.196s
13. Bobby Thompson, Autobrite Direct with Millers Oils +1.228s
14. Andrew Watson, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +1.467s
15. Adam Morgan, Team BMW +1.564s
16. Aiden Moffat, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +1.660s
17. Sam Osborne, NAPA Racing UK +1.805s
18. George Gamble, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK +1.872s
19. Dexter Patterson, Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD +1.873s 
20. Mikey Doble, CarStore Power Maxed Racing +1.882s
21. Tom Chilton, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +2.020s 
22. Will Powell, One Motorsport with Starline Racing +2.631s
23. Jack Butel, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +2.746s
24. Jade Edwards, Re.Beverages and Bartercard with Team HARD +2.856s
25. Ronan Pearson, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +3.265s
26. Nic Hamilton, Go-Fix with Autoaid Breakdown +3.310s
27. Nick Halstead, BRISTOL STREET MOTORS with EXCELR8 +7.219s

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