Cook clinches a historic eighth Thruxton BTCC win ahead of Hill

Rich Energy BTC Racing's Josh Cook took his eighth Thruxton British Touring Car Championship race victory after holding BMW driver Jake Hill at bay during the opening race of the day.

Cook converted his pole position into a relatively comfortable victory ahead of ROKiT MB Motorsport's Hill after the Honda Civic Type R driver led every lap of race one.

Eight Thruxton victories for Cook means the 30-year-old has now won more races around the Hampshire circuit than anyone else in BTCC history.

As a result of his win, Cook now leads the BTCC drivers' standings after Tom Ingram endured a miserable opening race in 21st following a first lap clash between himself, Dan Cammish and Team BMW's Colin Turkington.

With Hill starting from second position, Cook had his hands full at the start of the race and briefly lost the lead off the line to the West Surrey Racing BMW.

But Cook retook the lead as quick as he lost it after sailing around the outside of Hill at Campbell corner. While the front two disputed the lead, Dan Rowbottom, Cammish, Ingram and Turkington came to blows at Noble when disputing what was then fourth position.

Cammish and Ingram came off worst with both drivers having to dive into the pits, dropping them out of contention. Rowbottom appeared to tag the rear end of Cammish on the run up from Seagrave, which in turn sent the Ford careering across and into the path Ingram, who had nowhere to go.

Defending champion Ash Sutton took full advantage of a chaotic start to move up to third behind Cook and Hill, while Team Dynamics Honda's Dan Rowbottom slotted into fourth ahead of four-time champion Turkington in fifth.

For the remainder of the race, Cook and Hill found themselves in a class of their own, trading sector times as the BMW attempted to close the gap on the race leading Honda.

Although Hill managed to keep Cook in check, the BMW 330e M Sport ultimately didn't have an answer for the BTC Racing man.

NAPA Racing's Sutton completed the podium order in third, almost nine-seconds behind the two leaders.

Sutton did well to hang onto his position in third with Turkington, Rowbottom and two-time champion Jason Plato all running in close company behind the Ford Focus.

Rowbottom almost got the better of Sutton lap 9 of the race, but the reigning champion quickly snapped back at the Honda and retook his place on the podium.

That attempt proved costly for Rowbottom as Turkington brilliantly took advantage of the situation and moved up to fourth behind Sutton.

Rowbottom managed to hold fifth ahead of Plato, despite the 97-time race winner occasionally lapping faster than the race leaders.

The 54-year-old posted his strongest performance of the season so far after re-passing Gordon Shedden for sixth just over half-way through the race.

Adam Morgan enjoyed a solid drive in seventh position, ahead of Dan Lloyd in eighth. Thanks to Ingram's troubles, Lloyd ended the race as the highest place Hyundai i30N runner.

Team BMW's Stephen Jelley and Power Maxed Racing Vauxhall's Ash Hand completed the top-ten order in ninth and tenth.