Josh Cook, Tom Ingram and Adam Morgan all take wins at a cold and wet Donington Park for the second round of the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Josh Cook took his maiden pole position in tricky wet conditions at Donington Park for the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship. Chris Smiley also came out after the red flag and improved his previous time moving him up to second, whilst Sam Tordoff who had set the pace before the red flag had come out had to settle for third. Dan Cammish had another good qualifying starting race one in fourth, ahead of Aiden Moffat, Jack Goff, James Nash, Tom Chilton, Brett Smith and Tom Oliphant who rounded out the top ten.
Race 1
Cook was starting his Power Maxed TAG Racing Vauxhall Astra on pole alongside Smiley in the BTC Norlin Racing Honda Civic. Both drivers got away from start well, with Smiley just having the edge and giving Cook a fight on the opening lap. However, Cook holds onto the lead and starts to pull away to take his first BTCC win.
Smiley had opted to run the hard tyre for the opening race resulting in him dropping down the order eventually settling in seventh.
The fast-starting Honda Civic of Dan Cammish was the first to pass Smiley into second place, quickly followed by Tordoff and a number of others.
Chilton and Colin Turkington were out of the running after both suffered offs on laps two and four.
Tordoff unexpectedly retired from third place on lap ten, leaving Moffat to pick up the position leading the fight between himself Smith and James Cole. They would continue to finish in this order with the second Halfords Yuasa Racing Honda, Matt Neal in eighth.
The second Power Maxed TAG Racing driver, Senna Proctor and Tom Oliphant rounding out the top ten.
Race 2
The second race started with Cook on pole with Cammish alongside – both drivers using the hard tyre. Cammish got the better start again and took the lead from Cook, but it wasn’t long before those on the prime tyres were passing the duo.
The race for the win then became between Smiley and championship points leader, Tom Ingram, who had started the race in 13th when they passed Cammish with half the race left to go. Ingram then made his move past Smiley on lap ten to become the first double winner of the 60th anniversary season.
Goff also made good use of the prime tyre to work his way up to third, with Cammish holding onto fourth.
Ciceley Motorsport’s Adam Morgan worked his way up to fifth ahead of Cole, whilst race one race winner, Cook, dropped down to sixth.
Defending champion, Ash Sutton, finished seventh, ahead of Butcher- who would start the reverse grid order on pole – and Chilton.
Race 3
The third race of the day saw all the action on the first lap when several cars were twitching on the cold tyres and some were left stranded. This bought out the safety car and ended Proctor, Cole, Tordoff, Smith and Josh Prices race.
Staying out of trouble were the leaders Butcher, Sutton and Morgan. Butcher was running the hard tyre and both Sutton and Morgan had passed him on the first lap before the safety car came out.
Sutton – also running the hard tyre – soon fell in the clutches of Morgan who took over the lead on lap eight, followed by Cook on the following lap, leaving Sutton to hold off those behind.
The battle for the lead then became between Morgan and Cook, with Cook looking to secure his second win of the day, but Morgan held on to become the third winner of the day.
Moffat and Rob Collard had been battling their way through the order, with Moffat taking third position, and Collard’s teammate, Andrew Jordan, behind them in fifth.
Sutton had to settle for sixth, whilst the progressing Neal scored the Halfords Yuasa Racing team vital points after Cammish went off with a puncture after contact with Smiley, in seventh.
Race two winner Ingram finished eighth ahead of Chilton and Jake Hill who round out the top ten.
Ingram holds onto his championship lead with 71 points, Morgan moves up to second with 64. Third and fourth position are separated by one point – Cook on 56 and Goff 55 – heading into Thruxton in three weeks’ time.
Feature image credit: BTCC
