Photo: PSP Images

Josh Cook praises PMR over early season success

By

Josh Cook has praised his Power Maxed Racing team for the success the Vauxhall squad has enjoyed so far in the 2018 BTCC season.

Cook took a first pole position for the team last time out at Thruxton before picking up his second victory of the campaign, with team-mate Senna Proctor having also taken a win during the season opener at Brands Hatch.

It means Cook currently sits second in the championship standings, with PMR heading both the manufacturers/constructors and teams championships after three rounds and the 26-year-old said the hard work of his team has been keen to the results so far.

“I don’t think people really appreciate the amount of work that the guys did during the winter,” he said. “Some other teams wind down when the season ends, but these guys have been flat out. When I first drove the car after the changes they had made, I was blown away and so excited about what was to come.

“Alongside my engineer, we’re in a position now where we can miss stages out and get straight to the end result in terms of setting up the car without the need to go round the houses and – when you add in the expertise of the team – it makes it so much easier.

“When the sun is shining, you have to make hay and it’s credit to the team that we are doing that at the moment. I’ve not changed how I drive, but things are just so much easier when the car is good.”

Cook’s success at Thruxton came after he fought back from a difficult qualifying session with a storming drive in race two and he vowed to keep pushing hard at Oulton Park next time out.

“We took a gamble in qualifying that didn’t pay off but sometimes things work and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “We went back to what we know race day and the car was quick; we scored lots of points which I’m happy with and if we can keep doing that then we’ll be sorted.

“I’m going to attack again at Oulton Park and the fact we have weight in is okay as we’ve run with ballast during testing and understand what the car is doing. We’ve had a few good weekends now and I want to keep chasing the points.”