BTCC Croft – Josh Cook takes win as Neal penalised – title contenders hit trouble

Josh Cook took his second win of the weekend as Matt Neal was given a 0.7 second penalty for hitting Cook on the final lap.

Cook had led all race but Neal had more pace, and his move three corners from the end was judged to have been gaining an advantage by the stewards, and so the places were reversed.

Meanwhile the two title contenders had a race to forget. Colin Turkington locked up at the start going into turn one and put it in the wall. Ash Sutton had a golden chance to capitalize but made a rash move on Jake Hill on lap seven and suffered a puncture, finishing 20th and out the points.

Hill was holding Sutton off, and the Infiniti driver dove down the inside at the final hairpin. Sutton made contact and punctured his tyre, but he’d gone past the pits before realising his tyre had punctured.

With the two title protagonists stricken, Tom Ingram and Dan Cammish both picked up good points to close the gap.

Towards the end of the race Neal had bags of pace. He passed Hill into second and was soon on the back of Cook. He closed the three second gap in a matter of laps and by the end of lap 14 he was on the back of his fellow Honda Civic driver.

On lap 16, Cook was holding Neal off, with an extra 60kg of ballast on his car, but Neal dove down the inside into the final section of the lap. He tapped Cook on the inside and nearly tipped him into a spin. He passed Cook and finished first on the road but the stewards swapped the positions.

*Matt Neal received a 0.7 second penalty for causing a collision.

Image Credit: BTCC Media