Cook claims fourth win of the season in BTC Racing one-two to begin Brands Hatch finale, Sutton extends championship lead

Josh Cook has surged to a fourth win of the season to begin the Brands Hatch BTCC finale as the 2021 season heads towards its conclusion.

It was a one two for BTC Racing and the Steve Dudman ran squad as Senna Proctor who has shown considerable pace since coming into the championship has another podium to show for his efforts.

They finished ahead of Gordon Shedden and Daniel Lloyd with the duo unable to capitalise on a safety car which could have seen them find a way into the fight for top spot. But in terms of the Drivers’ Championship, it is looking increasingly likely that Ash Sutton will defend his title at the end of today.

He finished one place ahead of his main title rival Colin Turkington and now sits 33 points and 45 points respectively ahead of both Turkington and Tom Ingram with only two races to go.

Proctor made a good get away to start the race with Rowbottom sneaking in alongside the duo while Turkington and Sutton in the title fight further back were together alongside Lloyd in 5th-7th.

Cook who was still in the title fight took the lead from his teammate Proctor as the BTC Racing duo looked to get away with Shedden leading the battle pack from third onwards. Lloyd got away from the title fighters up into fourth with Rowbottom in fifth in front of Sutton and Turkington.

Turkington looked to unsettle Sutton with Moffat also behind him to back up his teammate if needed but on Lap 3/15, he was still unable to force an overtake.

Further ahead, Shedden claimed the fastest lap as he was closing on the BTC Racing duo looking for the race lead. A safety car was deployed on Lap 5/15 with Andy Neate’s last weekend in BTCC not getting off to a good start as contact with Jade Edwards saw him off at Druids. His car remained relatively undamaged so at the end of Lap 7/15, the restart occurred.

Cook charged away alongside Proctor with Shedden and Lloyd with the latter having no success ballast aiming to mount a charge. But the former started to edge away +0.709secs ahead of his teammate.

He continued to cement his lead with Proctor and Shedden concluding the podium spots but they started to close up with only +0.480secs between the two leaders but going onto the final lap, he surged to victory without the pressure applied that could have been post Safety Car.

In terms of Sutton and Turkington, the former continued to extend his gap finishing sixth and seventh respectively with Moffat, Chilton and Jackson rounding out the top ten.

Results to follow