The 24-year-old, who finished 2014 as runner-up in the Courier Connections Renault UK Clio Cup, has joined Power Maxed Racing in a two car assault on the championship, alongside former Clio champion and reigning Jack Sear's Trophy holder Dave Newsham.
Cook, though, is excited about the new campaign: "It's going to be tough, I haven't really had much running in the car until today, but it feels good, the first impressions of the touring car are good; I've never driven an NGTC car before so I don't have anything to compare it to but out of the box it feels like a stable car - it hasn't got any of the really weird characteristics that anybody's spoke about, it's comfortable to drive and I'll have to try and get a few more laps under my belt and see how it goes really".
"The cars are very different to the Clio, but it is a good training ground for touring cars. There are some big names on the grid this year but I'm not fazed by any of it, I've just got to get my head down and get on with what I've got to do and hopefully we can get this Power Maxed team to the front of the grid".
Reflecting on last season, Cook believes that events in the 2014 Clio Cup will help him progress in his maiden BTCC outing: "Last year obviously didn't go to plan, but it did it's job. We took six wins, the most podiums, the most laps lead, there were a lot of positives and we clearly had the pace but it just didn't go our way. This year we're going to bounce back from that and work as hard as we can to make sure that we can finish as high up the grid as we can".
Looking ahead to 2015, Cook's ambitions are modest: "I just want to crack on with it, learn as much as I can, and as long as we're progressing every time I get inside the car then I'll be happy".
Written and interviewed by Alan Faulkner
Photo Credit: Alan Faulkner
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