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British Touring Car Championship
Croft - Race Report - 11/10/20

By MJP Media | 11 October 2020

A crazy day at Croft sees Cook win two races whilst Sutton retains his Championship lead.

Sutton still leads the Championship

BTC Racing's Josh Cook secured a commanding lights-to-flag victory in the opening Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship race at Croft, holding off a determined effort from MB Motorsport accelerated by Blue Square's Jake Hill. Cook held the lead from pole position off the line, whilst Hill's Honda briefly lost out to the fast-starting BMW 3 Series of Colin Turkington. Hill hung on around the outside at Clervaux before impressively tucking back in ahead of Team BMW's Turkington prior to the wriggle through Hawthorn Bend.

Hill and Cook went side-by-side on occasion, as well as trading fastest laps, but the latter held on to claim a hugely deserved victory as the lead duo pulled clear of Turkington who was 3rd. Turkington's podium promise was made slightly easier following early contact between two fellow title rivals, as Rory Butcher's Ford got into the back of Ash Sutton's Infiniti. Such was the bunched up nature of the quartet that Butcher's move by Oliphant led to the latter making contact with Sutton's rear - spinning the #116 around in the process. Butcher importantly held on to fourth at the finish, whilst Sutton impressively snatched fifth, despite dropping to 13th following the aforementioned incident.

Josh Cook and Jake Hill battle for the race lead

Josh Cook claimed his second successive Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship victory at Croft Circuit in what turned out to be one of the most extraordinary races in recent times. Championship contenders - Colin Turkington, Ash Sutton and Rory Butcher - all hit trouble, whilst last lap contact between Cook and three-time champion Matt Neal looked to have handed the latter his first victory since his 'Diamond Double' success at Snetterton in 2018.

Unsurprisingly, however, the incident was reviewed post-race and the positions were subsequently reversed with Neal's over-zealous move being deemed as gaining an unfair advantage. Amazingly at the end of the race, title contenders Rory Butcher, Ash Sutton and Colin Turkington were 19th, 20th and 23rd with it all to do in Race 3.

Dan Cammish kept his title hopes alive at Croft

Race 3 saw a great drive from Tom Ingram for the win as well as an amazing drive from Ash Sutton up through the field. Starting from third on the grid, Ingram blasted by Dan Cammish's Honda Civic Type R off the line and shortly after, he was making a sensational pass by BTC Racing's Tom Chilton on the run towards Sunny In. Cammish closed in after he eventually passed Chilton with a similar move, but time ran out before the #27 machine could really make a concerted attack and the victory went to the Speedworks Motorsport squad.

Chilton completed the podium positions ahead of Halfords Yuasa Racing's Matt Neal and the phenomenal Sutton - the championship leader having made up a total of 15 places in this final race of the day. Honda's Cammish was the main beneficiary on a manic day as a trio of top ten finishes increased his hopes of winning the UK's most coveted motorsport crown, whilst Ingram's victory fired him back into contention. Sutton now leads by seven points from Cammish, with Turkington a further five in arrears. Ingram is 29 points off the summit with 134 points still to play for in the final two rounds.

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