Josh Cook surprised by Snetterton podium charge

Josh Cook admitted he had been surprised to secure a podium finish as the BTCC season resumed at Snetterton.

The BTC Racing man had gone into the sixth meeting of the season seeking to maintain his title challenge, having secured four podium finishes – including two wins – in the first half of the campaign.

Niggling issues on Saturday, and the additional success ballast on his Honda Civic Type R, left Cook with work to do on race day from 19th on the grid and he was unable to make any forward progress on the hard tyre in race one.

Having managed to break into the top 15 in race two, Cook would them scythe through the field on the soft tyre in race three to secure his fifth podium of the season, although he admitted it wasn’t a result he had expected when the lights went out at the start.

“We were out of position a bit going into race day, and the first race was really demoralising because we took the double hit of the hard tyre and the weight,” he said. “I knew we couldn’t do anything and just had to get through it, and then we managed to move forwards in race two even though I picked up some exhaust damage.

“With the soft tyre in race three, I knew there were quite a few guys ahead on the hard so I just got my head down and pushed on. Even as I was picking them off, I didn’t honestly expect to get right up to the podium.

“It was an important result for us as we’d had a podium at every round apart from Oulton Park, and it keeps the points ticking over. This has been a tough weekend and one where you see the true colours of your team.

“We’ve really shown what we are capable of in the way we fought back and we can return to Thruxton in a few weeks confident of some strong results.”