Six talking points from from BTCC's thrilling Thruxton round

Josh Cook reigns supreme at Thruxton

Heading into the Thruxton weekend, eyes were on the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type-R of Josh Cook. With seven wins around the Hampshire circuit before the first visit in 2022, Cook knew that he only needed one victory to have more at Thruxton than any other driver in BTCC history.

Leaving it late in qualifying, he showed why he’s being tipped as the “King of Thruxton” by jumping to the top of the time sheets to take pole position, setting himself up for a strong start on Sunday. Second-placed Jake Hill’s BMW made its traditional fast start to take the lead off the line, but a brilliant move around the outside of Campbell corner leapfrogged Cook back up to the top. Despite heavy pressure from the BMW in the closing stages of the race, a combination of great defending from Cook and tyre struggles for Hill allowed the Honda driver to streak to a record-breaking eighth triumph at the track.

Race two could have been a carbon copy of the opening encounter if you solely focused on the front two. A stellar start from Hill allowed the BMW to jump into the lead heading into the complex for the first time, while Cook was forced to try and hold back reigning champion Ash Sutton in his NAPA Racing UK Ford Focus. Holding a clear second place once out onto the flowing back section of the circuit, Cook set about hunting down Hill, and, in a contender for overtake of the year, swept around the outside of the BMW into the chicane to take the lead. In similar vein to race one, a late charge from Hill put Cook under pressure, but there was to be no stopping the BTC Racing driver taking his second win of the day, and fifth of the season.

Starting from seventh in the final reversed-grid race of the day, Cook moved up two spots to come home fifth and round off a hugely successful weekend and enhance his reputation for being pretty good around the fastest track in Britain. With another meeting at Thruxton lined up for the late August Bank Holiday weekend, and a relatively large lead in the points standings already, Cook can rightly look forward to the summer leg of the BTCC.

Mixed fortunes for Tom Ingram

Championship leader going into the third meeting of the year, Tom Ingram was hoping to continue his 2022 record of taking a top-five finish in every race. Unfortunately for him, he got tangled up in a first lap melee involving Dan Cammish, Ash Sutton and Dan Rowbottom, which sent Cammish and Ingram onto the grass on the outside of Noble corner. Having initially seemed to get away with no major damage, Ingram was forced to bring his Excelr8 Hyundai into the pits to clear out grass from the front splitter and avoid overheating.

Starting from down in 21^st in race two, Ingram pulled off a tremendous recovery drive, battling his way up the field to take eighth at the chequered flag, following a close last-lap duel with team-mate Daniel Lloyd. Frustratingly for Ingram, the reversed-grid draw pulled out number seven, meaning he was just one spot away from a pole position. Instead, we were treated to championship legend Jason Plato on the front row and the best chance possible for win #98 of his career. Ingram was unable to replicate his charge in the final race of the day, instead only able to gain two positions to sixth place. Such is the nature of the BTCC that just one poor meeting saw the Hyundai man slip from the championship lead down to fourth in the points by the end of the day, but his race two drive will certainly boost his confidence heading to Oulton Park in June.

Dan Cammish can’t catch a break

One of the most hotly anticipated returns to the championship in pre-season was Dan Cammish in the NAPA Racing UK squad. After a difficult weekend at Donington Park, which saw his car go up in flames during the first qualifying session of the year, Cammish reminded everyone why he was an outside favourite for the title with a brace of podiums at Brands Hatch. Unfortunately, though, the luck of Donington returned at Thruxton.

Starting from third on the grid, less than a tenth away from Cook’s pole time, Cammish made it five corners before he got caught up in an incident with team-mate Sutton, Tom Ingram and Team Dynamics’s Dan Rowbottom. Although there was no major damage across all cars involved, Cammish found himself so far off the road that he was almost on one of the old runways in the Thruxton infield. He plummeted down the order, and was forced to pit at the end of the lap. Losing a lap on the field, he rejoined but could only manage 25^th spot by the end of the race. While Tom Ingram was able to surge forward 13 spaces in race two, Cammish could only manage seven, taking the flag down in 18^th. Race three was no better, either, with Cammish losing positions rather than gaining and ending the weekend in 20^th.

So close yet so far for Jason Plato

With the stage set for a hugely popular 98^th win for outgoing series stalwart Jason Plato, you could almost hear the collective groan from the spectator banks as he spun the wheels of his BTC Racing Honda off the line and was swallowed up by the two rear-wheel-drive BMWs of Adam Morgan and Colin Turkington. Not only was Plato passed by the BMW pair, but also found himself shuffled back to fourth as reigning champion Sutton worked his way through on the opening lap.

With the field reset after a brief safety car period on the third lap for the stricken BMW of Stephen Jelley, a revitalised Plato latched on to the back of the podium trio, and almost emulated team-mate Cook’s move around the outside of the NAPA Ford. Heavy defence by Sutton kept the two-time champion at bay, and allowed Morgan and Turkington to get a small amount of breathing room at the front of the field.

The second half of the race was beginning to look a little more spread out in the top four, with Plato still in the hunt for his first podium of the year, but it was all for nought as the BTC Racing Honda ran very wide at Church – it would have been better off being a Honda Super Mower rather than a Civic Type-R. The off-track excursion forced Plato into the pits to remove the grass from the air intake, and ended an incredibly positive showing from one of the most popular drivers in the history of the championship.

Adam Morgan continues Thruxton form

The last time the BTCC rolled into Hampshire, Adam Morgan came away with a victory in the final race of the day, making the most of the reversed-grid to score his second win in the BMW 330e M Sport. Fast forward a few months and Morgan found himself lining up alongside Jason Plato on the front row of the grid for the third race, and must have been licking his lips with the fast-starting BMW at his fingertips.

As expected, Plato dropped two places off the line as Morgan and Colin Turkington, in the works BMW, leapfrogged the Honda Civic. Although the Safety Car bunched the field up, potentially putting Morgan’s lead at risk from the chasing pack, the Ciceley Motorsport driver held his nerve and, on the day that he celebrated his 300^th start in the BTCC, came through to take the 11^th victory of his career.

Cook takes control at the top of the table, Ingram slips back

Unsurprisingly, with another pair of victories to go with his Brands Hatch double, Josh Cook has replaced Tom Ingram at the top of the drivers' standings. He enjoys a 23-point lead over Ash Sutton who, with still no trip to the top step in 2022, is proving that consistency is key in the BTCC. Sutton’s arch-rival from the past few years, Colin Turkington, sits just four points further back in third, with Ingram just one point further back in fourth. Jake Hill rounds out the top five, some 36 points behind Cook. Cook also holds a 26-point lead at the head of the Independents’ standings.

The constructors title race, which saw three makes split by just one point after Brands Hatch, is now more spread. BMW now has a 25-point lead over Ford, despite Cammish’s struggles, while Hyundai, like Ingram in the drivers’ standings, tumbled a further seven points back to third.

The closest table after nine races of the 30-round season is the Jack Sears Trophy, with Bobby Thompson holding a one-point lead over George Gamble. However, it was Ash Hand in the Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall who took a trio of Jack Sears triumphs at Thruxton and will be hoping he can close the 27-point gap up to the top two in the remaining seven meetings of the year.

Once again there’s only a two-week wait until the next round of the championship, with the always-packed Oulton Park lining up for its traditional summer slot on the 11^th-12^th June.

Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.