ONE MOTORSPORT ADDS TO PODIUM TALLY ON ROLLERCOASTER WEEKEND AT THRUXTON

One Motorsport experienced both highs and lows in the Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship at Thruxton this past weekend (June 7-8) as the team bounced back from a sizeable crash in qualifying to claim an overall podium and two Independent wins on race day. 

Making the annual pilgrimage to the fastest circuit in the country for the fourth meeting of the 2025 campaign, the Brackley-based squad showed its fighting spirit as they propelled Josh Cook towards silverware following a monumental overnight rebuild of his car.

Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session took place in soaking wet conditions and Thruxton supremo Cook unfortunately found himself a passenger in Q1 as his car ran off the track at the exit of Goodwood before eventually making heavy contact with the barrier at Village.

Both Cook and his Honda Civic Type R sustained a big hit which resulted in the 33-year-old having to go to a nearby hospital for precautionary checks and the team being tasked with getting his front-wheel-drive machine race day ready. 

Thankfully Cook was given the all-clear and with his car looking brand new come sunrise, the Bath-born racer would be able to join team-mate Stephen Jelley on the grid for the first of Sunday’s three frenetic contests.

Race one would see Cook deliver a redemption drive as he went from 14th to third and with it, clinched a second podium in succession and a first Independent win of the year; a fitting reward for the hard work the team had put in just a few hours before. 

Making a number of quality moves – including a double overtake on Senna Proctor and Gordon Shedden at the exit of the Complex – Cook was relentless from start-to-finish and powered his way to third place come the chequered flag.

Further back, Jelley found himself in the thick of the action as he went wheel-to-wheel with a number of rival drivers. Despite his best efforts, the Leicestershire racer finished the opening encounter in 19th place.

The weekend’s second bout would see misfortune strike further for Cook as after delivering a peerless drive to clinch a second third place finish of the day, he would have it snatched away from him due to being disqualified for a marginal ride height failure. 

Jelley meanwhile picked up from where he left off in the previous race as he continued to dice in and around the midfield, this time just missing out on the points-paying positions by the smallest of margins. 

Tasked with start plum last and with very little in the way of boost deployment, Cook underlined why he is one of the best around the Hampshire track in the weekend’s third and final bout as he produced an overtaking masterclass.

Working with Jelley to fight their way as far forward as possible, Cook led the charge for the team as he worked his way up to eighth place – which later became seventh following an exclusion for a rival. This also netted him a second Independent win of the day. 

Having made radical changes to the set-up of his car for the reverse grid finale, Jelley closed out his weekend at Thruxton with another strong display where he once again came oh-so close to adding to his points tally for the season. 

Steve Dudman, Team Owner: “On the whole it has been a weekend of two halves. Saturday saw Josh and Stephen battle some truly challenging weather conditions and sadly for Josh it resulted in a massive impact. Thankfully he was ok and the team demonstrated why they are some of the best in the business as they worked until the early hours to rebuild his car.

“For Josh to then go from 14th to third was phenomenal in race one. Sadly we were disqualified in race two but Josh showed why he is the King of Thruxton by going from the back to seventh in race three.

“Stephen meanwhile built himself into the weekend and after a tough Snetterton, brought the car home in all three races, made some real progress with the feel of his car and gained confidence too. Roll on Oulton Park in a few weeks’ time.”

Stephen Jelley: “It’s been a really humbling weekend. Thruxton is without doubt one of the toughest circuits on the calendar and the heavy rain we had for qualifying meant that I was just lacking a little bit of confidence in extracting the absolute maximum from the car.

“Races one and two were about trying to get as comfortable as possible in the car and I was able to have some good battles out there. We changed the car a lot over the course of the day and come race three it felt really good so I leave in a relatively happy mindset knowing that we’re making progress and that we can go to Oulton Park in a good place.” 

Josh Cook: “First and foremost I have to say a big thank you to every member of the team for their hard work in repairing my car on Saturday night. Everything from the windscreen forward was brand-new and the car didn’t miss a beat on race day – so huge credit to them.

“To go from P14 to P3 in race one was a great reward for all their hard work; we had a good amount of boost to play with and the pace in the car felt strong. Sadly in race two we picked up a little bit of damage which dropped the splitter but the rules are the rules.

“I was pleased to go from the back to P7 in that final race and ultimately we can leave feeling more positive than when we arrived. We’ve made a good step forward and head to Oulton Park feeling confident.”

The 2025 Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship reaches the halfway point in less than a fortnight as the series heads to Oulton Park in Cheshire on June 21-22 for Rounds 13, 14 and 15.