The West Countryman, the BTCC wins record holder at Thruxton, comfortably headed both of the 35-minute sessions in his One Motorsport Honda Civic Type R, raising anticipation that the Brackley squad could be on the verge of turning the tide from its disappointing start to the season.
Cook emerged from the pits in the first session when the green lights were switched on with five minutes remaining, following a red-flag stoppage for teams to be reminded by officials about the new track-limits rules, particularly at Church Corner.
This is the first weekend of competition since governing body Motorsport UK mandated the new regulations, although the BTCC has been adhering to them since the start of the season.
After that restart, Cook put in a lap that was 0.469 seconds clear of second-fastest Ash Sutton, and his second best effort was also quarter of a second clear of the championship leader’s Motorbase Performance-run Ford Focus ST.
The second session also featured a red flag, this one relatively early on and triggered by Cook’s team-mate Will Powell coming to a halt on the exit of Church, although he rejoined the fray once the session restarted.
Times stayed resolutely half a second off the early-morning best of Cook, until he stamped in a flier that was 0.1s quicker than his earlier time and 0.516s up on the runner-up, reigning champion Tom Ingram with his Excelr8 Motorsport Hyundai i30 N.
As in the first session, Cook set two laps quicker than the best of anyone else.
“It’s only free practice and I’m sure everyone’s going to go quicker in qualifying,” said Cook, whose best time was 0.2s slower than Dan Cammish’s qualifying lap record from 2020.
“Heading into the weekend, I thought we’d probably see a new qualifying lap record, but with the changes in track limits and the way we drive the circuit I think it’s going to be slower.
Source: Autosport