SV Racing's Josh Cook is hoping for similar success this weekend at
Thruxton after dominating through tricky conditions over the Easter weekend at
Donington Park.
Josh qualified on pole position for the opening race of the day, and
took a lights to flag victory on a very wet track ahead of Mike Bushell and
team mate Ant Whorton-Eales, who claimed 2nd and 3rd respectively in round 3.
The second Clio race of the day was a similar story for Josh - despite starting
4th on the grid, he took full advantage of a coming together from the start
between pole sitter Jordan Stilp and Team Pyro's Mike Bushell, with the latter
crashing out of the race, and managed to avoid the contact to take an early
lead, which he maintained for the duration of the race to make it two wins out
of two. The elation was clear to see on the podium from Josh, and in his post
race interview at the end of round 4.
"It was brilliant weekend, obviously we didn't have that second
pole position but you can’t have it all! The car’s been fantastic all weekend,
a fantastic 1, 2, 3, 4 for all the KX guys, so I can’t ask for much more from
the team, they've been absolutely fantastic and I just want to try and carry on
this momentum into Thruxton".
Despite it looking easy from where the spectators were sitting over the
weekend, he admitted that it didn't seem that way inside the car, "It was
a weird one really, I wanted to try and maintain a gap but I didn’t want my tyres to go off so I had to push a couple of
times just to try and get it back, and I think I put one of my fastest laps
towards the last lap - it was good fun but it looked like there were a lot of
exciting things going on behind me!"
When asked about how the new generation Clio
manages it tyres to the older model, Josh told me "To be honest, it
completely depends on the style of driver you are. The new generation car does
have a lot more torque than the previous model, so it is really important that
you are progressive when applying the power. The new generation car is of a
very similar weight to its older brother, so that is not a massive issue.
Donington was a strange race because I had a clear gap behind me, which I'm
sure you will agree is rare in Clio Cup! I just had to ensure that I didn't
push too hard on the tyres to allow me to have something left in the tanks
should I need to put in a few flyers!"
Looking ahead to the next rounds of the Clio Cup at
Thruxton, Josh had admitted that he is quietly confident of similar results for
him and the other drivers in the SV Racing team: "In the official tests
there we were top of the time sheets, and it’s one of my more favourable
circuits so we’ll have to see how it goes there". He also added "With
it being such a competitive grid this year, and being so early on in the season
I think it is difficult to tell currently who will be my biggest rival,
however there are a number of people who have shown pace throughout the races
that it could be anyone! You can bet your bottom dollar that Paul Rivett will
be in the mix come the final rounds! I just think it is important to
concentrate on doing the best job I can do and with a fantastic team of
Cooksport and SVR guys behind me, I couldn't be in a better place".
With Thruxton being around the corner, Josh will be
hoping to build on the momentum from Donington and will be pushing for more
podiums at the fastest circuit on the race calendar, and will also be looking
for strong results for the SV Racing team.
Photo credit: Alan Faulkner
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