BUMPER HAUL OF SILVERWARE FOR ONE MOTORSPORT WITH STARLINE RACING AT SNETTERTON
Josh Cook produced one of the drives of the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship season so far when he powered his One Motorsport with Starline Racing to his second Independents’ Trophy victory of the weekend at Snetterton on Sunday to headline a remarkable 1-2 finish for the ambitious team in race three.
It marked Cook’s second Independents Trophy class win of the meeting and he and team-mates Aiden Moffat and Will Powell were full of praise for the performance of their two-litre turbocharged Honda Civic machines after the trio of races in Norfolk.
Cook had already claimed the spoils as top Independents’ Trophy finisher in the opening race of the weekend on the 2.97-mile track, but experienced cruel luck as he lined up for the second race meant a throttle problem struck his hatchback. He finished the event one lap down on the pack.
It consigned him to start on the 13th row of the grid for the finale at Snetterton but he made short work of climbing up the order to cement his third class win of the campaign, which keeps him on top of the Independents’ Trophy points table. He had overtaken a remarkable 20 rivals.
The Bath racer said the glory was a tribute to the strength of the One Motorsport with Starline car and it had given him optimism that an outright win was on the cards in the near future.
“It was nice to end the weekend with a decent result and it was quite a fun drive – you can’t help but have a smile on your face when the race goes as well as that,” explained Cook. “To get fifth place overall from 26th on the grid is pretty good by any reckoning. The car was really good.
“We have just made the Honda progressively better across the three races at Snetterton and, even though I was a lap down in race two after an early pitstop, when I regained the track I was on the pace of the leaders. You can see that we were developing the car in the right way.
“We took another step forward in race three. We have been on the back foot over the first couple of meetings, but it was clear at Snetterton that we are making progress. We just need to keep doing what we are doing, scoring points when we can and, hopefully, we are going to win 12 races in the second half of the season…”
It was also a weekend of progress for Moffat. He banked a 15th place finish in the opening race after a small error in qualifying meant he had to battle through the pack, but he took third place in the Independents’ Trophy with 17th position in race two. The Scot then swash-buckled his way up through his rivals to claim eighth place in the finale to underline the successful weekend for One Motorsport with Starline Racing.
He said the rules where each racer was forced to use all three types of the Goodyear tyres – soft, medium and hard – over the course of the three races was a factor in his performance and the team had banked valuable data across the Snetterton weekend.
“Race one was the first time I had been on the harder tyre in this car. I haven’t been on the harder tyre in a front-wheel-drive car for about six years,” said Moffat. “It was always going to be difficult with no knowledge but we changed a lot on the car, and it felt much better for race two. The pace was great and although we didn’t get a great position, we were racing against a lot of cars that were on more preferential rubber than us. I was happy with that.
“To go from 19th on the grid from the final race to eighth at the end in race three was a nice way to wrap up the weekend. We made a lot of improvements. We are still not quite where we need to be but we are a lot closer than we have been, so the main thing is that we are moving in the right direction.”
Will Powell continued a learning process across all three rounds and took the chequered flag in each of the events. A failure on the supplier hybrid system left him hamstrung in the weekend’s finale, but he too made progress in each of the three rounds.
“It was a messy weekend with some of the problems which were outside of our control, but there were some positives we can take from it,” he said. “If you look at our pace in race two on the softer Goodyear tyres, it was up where I wanted to be.
“I am desperate for a clean weekend. As my experience builds in the championship, I am sure that will come to me. We are finding improvements with all the changes we are making to the chassis and the engine as a team, and I just need to be able to implement them the same way my team-mates are.”
Team owner Steve Dudman was full of praise for the One Motorsport with Starline Racing squad for its dedication across the three cars over the course of the weekend which had ultimately led to the double podium finish, and he said the crew now had a platform to aim even higher in the remaining seven meetings of 2023.
Dudman said: “We have had a great weekend with our sponsors Starline. It is good to see Starline here in such force and they have enjoyed their weekend – as have we.
“Josh Cook’s drive in the last race was exceptional and Aiden found his feet with us as well. Unfortunately, there were some issues for Will and we will work extremely hard to get the most from the car and give him the tools he needs to move forwards.
“Overall the lads and the girls in the team have done a brilliant job. It was a tough weekend to start with but the work ethic in the staff is as strong as it has ever been and we will keep on pushing to reach the top.
“Some of the other teams around us are very fast at the moment, but our performance at Snetterton shows we are coming after them: they’d better look out…!”
The next rounds of the British Touring Car Championship take place at the fastest track on the UK calendar, Thruxton in Hampshire, on June 3-4.