Cook leads Chilton for BTC Racing 1-2 victory

Josh Cook led home team mate Tom Chilton to secure his first British Touring Car Championship race victory of 2020 in a dominant BTC Racing 1-2 finish at Thruxton.

Cook started the reverse grid race from pole position and superbly controlled proceedings ahead of his team mate Chilton as the BTC Racing Honda Civic Type Rs ran in tandem for the vast majority of the race.

Both Cook and Chilton enjoyed clean getaways from the front row before quickly pulling away from Rory Butcher's Ford Focus in third position.

Although Chilton was able to follow Cook for much of the race, Cook eventually crossed the line over three-seconds ahead of his BTC Racing stablemate.

Butcher's run to the podium proved a tougher affair after the Motorbase Performance driver soaked up lap after lap of severe pressure from championship leader Ash Sutton.

As expected, Sutton's Laser Tools Racing Infiniti Q50 looked to be the quicker package in comparison to the Motorbase Ford, but Butcher held firm despite an audacious last lap lunge from Sutton at the complex.

Ironically, Sutton's final throw of the dice for the podium ultimately left the championship leader vulnerable to attack from Toyota's Tom Ingram, who kept a watching brief of the battle for third for the entirety of the race.

Sutton managed to hold off Ingram for fourth and, with that, carries a 16-point lead ahead of Colin Turkington as the title race heads to Silverstone next weekend.

Fifth for Ingram also means the Toyota Gazoo Racing UK driver emerges from the fifth round of the season sitting third in the points standings.

More to follow.