Cook sails to race one victory

BTC Racing's Josh Cook took his first British Touring Car Championship race victory of the season after dominating the opening race of the day at a wet Oulton Park.

Cook crossed the line two-seconds ahead of Rory Butcher, but the result of race one remains provisional after Cook's Honda Civic Type-R appeared to fail the post-race ride height check.

The BTC Racing driver started the race on the front row alongside pole-sitter Rory Butcher but fell down to fourth during the opening stages after losing ground to the fast starting Team BMW duo of Colin Turkington and Tom Oliphant.

With a clear pace advantage in the rain soaked conditions, Cook wasted little time in getting back past the two BMW 330i M Sports, firstly by dispatching Oliphant on lap two, before scything past Turkington a lap later to move back up into second position.

From that moment onwards, Cook charged to the rear of Butcher, and after a brief safety car period from lap four the BTC Racing runner snatched the lead away from the Motorbase Performance Ford Focus on the seventh lap of the race.

Cook produced a bold lunge on Butcher at turn one and successfully held the line for the race lead after the pair ran side-by-side heading down Cascades.

Butcher consolidated his position in second, while Honda's Dan Cammish completed the podium order in third ahead of a strong drive from Jake Hill in fourth.

Despite running second during the early stages of the race, Turkington settled for fifth in the tricky conditions. Behind the championship leader, Tom Chilton held off Tom Ingram for seventh after resisting multiple laps of pressure.

Having survived contact with Ash Sutton earlier in the race, Ingram's Toyota Corolla became the fastest car on the circuit, which helped the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver rise from 14th to 7th.

Sutton fell behind Adam Morgan during the second half of the race to finish in ninth, with Chris Smiley completing the top-ten aboard the Excler8 Hyundai.