BTCC: THRUXTON
The sixth round of the BTCC series took us back to Thruxton for the second time this season – and the action provides the perfect opportunity to focus on another team that puts its faith in Cobra Seats.
Few teams in the Kwik-Fit British Touring Car Championship have made as much impact in such a short space of time as BTC Racing, the squad earning its place over the last two years as one of the race team premier entries in the UK’s biggest and best motor racing category.
BTC and its three drivers – Josh Cook, Senna Proctor and Jade Edwards put their faith in Cobra Seats and all three drivers had that faith rewarded at Thruxton – though in very different ways.
In Race 1 Josh Cook, who started his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R from third on the grid, swept around the outside of polesitter Dan Rowbottom’s Team Dynamics Honda into the Complex to take the race lead and held the position for the rest of the race to claim his seventh British Touring Car Championship win at the Hampshire circuit.
Although Cook started Race 2 with maximum win ballast, you wouldn’t bet against the “Thruxton Maestro” claiming a double victory, and he made a great fist of the opportunity, leading from pole for nine of the sixteen laps until the extra ballast took its toll when Ash Sutton got the run out of the chicane to relegate Josh to second place – a position he held to the chequered flag.
Cook’s first and second places in races one and two were complemented by teammate Senna Proctor’s third place in Race 3 – a points tally which left BTC Racing joint top of the Teams Standings.
While Cook and Proctor benefitted from a perfectly fitting Cobra seat to help them feel at one with their car, teammate Jade Edwards unfortunately was more grateful for the protection provided by her Cobra seat.
Jade must dislike Thruxton as much as her teammate Josh Cook loves it: In May, when Thruxton hosted the first meeting of the 2021 BTCC season Jade was the entirely innocent victim of a huge first corner accident in Race 2 when Andy Neate made contact with the right-rear corner of Glynn Geddie’s CUPRA, spinning him in the pack and collecting Edwards’ Honda.
All three cars were pitched off the track into the barriers at high-speed, causing extensive front-end damage to the Honda and Geddie’s car to roll.
Move forward four months and in Race 3 there was a definite feeling of déjà vu for Jade when yet again she was collected in a dramatic first corner incident: This time it was a case of three into one won’t go and Edwards was again the innocent party when the Dynamics Honda of Gordon Shedden moved out to avoid Nicolas Hamilton’s Team Hard Cupra only to make contact with Edwards, forcing her head-on into the tyre barrier.
It’s testament to the design and integrity of Cobra’s seats that, despite the 100mph plus impact, Jade was able not just to walk away from the crash but had the composure to show her frustration at the incident!
