Toyota’s Josh Cook scored his 11th victory at Thruxton in the opening British Touring Car Championship race on Sunday, beating NAPA Racing UK’s Ash Sutton by less than a second.

Cook, who had dominated Saturday’s proceedings by taking pole in qualifying followed by victory in the qualifying race, came under the most pressure at the start.

Team VERTU’s Tom Ingram, along with Sutton, made stronger starts than Cook, but battling between the title rivals allowed Cook some breathing space on the exit of the Complex.

Sutton then went outside Ingram at Noble to take second, which left the door open for team-mate Dan Cammish to also get through. Slight contact between Cammish and Ingram forced the latter wide onto the grass, and the Hyundai driver dropped to ninth.

However at the front, Cook managed to extend a 1.4-second lead by the end of the fourth lap, and for the remainder of the race he managed that gap ahead of Sutton, benefitting from more TOCA Turbo Boost [TTB] than his rival to claim a 22nd victory in the BTCC.

Sutton took second and further extended his championship lead with his tenth podium of the season – incredibly meaning the four-time champion has only failed to finish either first or second in three races so far in 2026.

Plato Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom completed the podium, marking a first outright rostrum result for the fledgling team. The Mercedes driver had started from seventh on the grid, but a strong start and being in the right place at the right time enabled him to move up to third by the end of the opening lap, and he held station for the remainder of the race.

Substitute driver Senna Proctor took fourth in the second-best NAPA Ford, ahead of Ingram in fifth, the latter having fought his way back to sixth by lap six before overtaking Cammish for fifth through the complex and into Seagrave corner on lap ten.

Plato Racing’s Adam Morgan was sixth, one of his best results of the season, ahead of Cammish in seventh, the latter losing out to the Mercedes driver five laps from the finish into the chicane.

Mikey Doble was the leading Power Maxed Racing driver in eighth, with the Audi racer also the top Independent, with the top ten completed by Restart Racing duo James Dorlin and Chris Smiley.

Laser Tools Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith was 11th, whilst team-mate Gordon Shedden finished in last having had to make an unscheduled pitstop early on.

Team VERTU’s Ricky Collard would have finished in the points in 14th but for a ten-second penalty received for exceeding track limits too many times.