BTCC Brands Hatch – Josh Cook takes final race win of season

Josh Cook ended the season with a win in round 30, with his stop-start season being rewarded with a victory. Title runner up Ash Sutton finished second while Jake Hill bids farewell to the BTCC with a third place finish.

In a race where the overall title was already won, it was the other championships which took precedence. There was the independents and the Jack Sears trophy to fight for.

Aiden Moffat lead off the start from pole, with Sutton surging through from eighth on the grid. There was suspicion that Moffat had jumped the start but there was no further investigation.

Lap four saw two NAPA Ford’s colliding, as Dan Rowbottom tapped Dan Cammish wide onto the grass going into Druids. The Yorkshireman spun and suffered race-ending damage. He still managed to secure third in the standings despite not finishing. This brought out the final safety car of the season.

The restart came on lap eight, with Cook now ahead of Moffat, and Sutton and Hill forcing their way past the BMW driver. This led to a battle of the Scots as Moffat was defending from Gordon Shedden.

Dan Lloyd was leading the Independents title going into the final race, but his lead was under threat from teammate Chris Smiley and Mikey Doble of Power Maxed Racing.

The trio were together on track, fighting for 14th on the grid. Smiley was ahead but didn’t have enough of a gap to overhaul Lloyd. Lloyd lost places to Max Buxton and Nick Hamilton but managed to come home with a four point cushion over Doble and Smiley.

Daryl DeLeon and Charles Rainford were battling it out for the Jack Sears trophy, awarded for the best driver to have never scored a podium before the season began. Both have managed to not only achieve podiums but win races this season, but were still eligible for the title.

DeLeon secured the title with a 14th place finish, Rainford finished ahead in 12th but it wasn’t enough, as DeLeon, only 19, secures WSR’s first ever Jack Sears trophy.

Up front Cook won in the Toyota, ending his season on a high, missing part of the season after One Motorsport dropped out. He joined Toyota and secured a big win.

Sutton finished second with Hill, who’s leaving the BTCC, finished third. Shedden passed Moffat on the final lap for fourth while champion Tom Ingram finished sixth. Adam Morgan was seventh with Dan Rowbottom eighth. Senna Proctor and Sam Osborne rounded off the top ten.

Dexter Patterson was the top independent with 11th, while Rainford, Smiley, DeLeon and Doble rounded off the points.

Tom Ingram ended the season 42 points ahead of Ash Sutton as the champion, his second title.

Related posts:

BTCC Croft – Ingram takes title lead with win after Sutton suffering puncture BTCC Donington Park – Cammish marks 200th start with win despite chaotic rain finale BTCC Donington Park – Ingram increases title chances with win over Sutton BTCC Brands Hatch – Cammish wins while Ingram has one hand on title