Cook and Moffat conquer changeable conditions to shine at Snetterton

• LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ duo on fine form in third outing of season

• Cook and Moffat exploit alternative tyre strategy to scythe through the spray

• British-built Toyota Corolla GR Sport proves its prowess come rain and shine

The weather threw everything it could at competitors in the third outing of the 2024 British Touring Car Championship campaign at Snetterton, but LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ duo Josh Cook and Aiden Moffat conquered the conditions to come away with a clutch of trophies on an historic weekend for Toyota (25-26 May).
 
Behind the wheel of his Toyota Corolla GR Sport, Cook advanced to the ‘Quick Six’ in qualifying for the second consecutive event. A spin late in the session denied the two-time BTCC Independents’ champion a potential front row grid slot – underscoring the raw pace of the British-built hot hatch – but sixth position nonetheless kept him firmly in the hunt, with Scottish stablemate Moffat a little further back in 17th.
 
With all three Goodyear tyre compounds – soft, medium and hard – needing to be used on race day for the first time this year, the pair elected to roll the dice by adopting a decidedly different strategy to their 19 rivals in the high-calibre field. 
 
Bolting on the less-favoured hard rubber for the curtain-raising contest, Cook inevitably struggled for grip on the greasy track surface as he slipped down the order to an eventual 14th-place finish, with Moffat picking up damage and a puncture following a clash with Tom Chilton – but with the slowest compound out of the way while everybody else still had to run it, they then set about making hay.
 
Race two began on a drying track but under still threatening skies. A number of drivers switched from wet tyres to slicks at the end of the formation lap in the expectation that the conditions would improve, but Cook and Moffat stuck solidly to their guns and duly reaped the rewards when the rain returned.
 
The 32-year-old Bath-born ace scythed through the spray to a second rostrum finish of the season in third place, with Moffat also making up plenty of ground to take the chequered flag eighth from 21st, in so doing securing LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ the Teams’ trophy for the race. That earned the Dalkeith native a front row starting slot for the day’s partially-reversed grid finale, with Cook lining up seventh – and both now on the soft tyres.
 
Moffat narrowly avoided a spinning Sam Osborne on the exit of Riches shortly after the lights went out to assume an early lead, and while a slide through Coram subsequently obliged him to give best to a charging Rob Huff – the 2012 FIA World Touring Car Champion similarly piloting a Speedworks Motorsport-run Corolla, under the TOYOTA GAZOO Racing UK banner – he nevertheless went on to cement a 16th career podium in the BTCC courtesy of the runner-up spoils.
 
In front of the live ITV4 television cameras and a capacity trackside crowd, the 27-year-old’s superb performance in the tricky conditions was all-but matched by Cook, who rose to fourth on the opening lap and ultimately crossed the line less than a second behind his team-mate in third, completing an unprecedented one-two-three finish for Toyotas in the country’s premier motorsport series and bagging another Teams’ trophy.
 
Their results leave Cook and Moffat respectively fifth and seventh in the Drivers’ standings heading next to the former’s home circuit of Thruxton on 8-9 June, with the Northwich, Cheshire-based outfit climbing a spot to third in the Teams’ table.
 
Christian Dick, Team Principal, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
 
“We’re now three weekends into the 2024 BTCC season, and it feels like everything is really beginning to gel and that we’re building some proper momentum inside the team. The weather clearly posed a variety of challenges at Snetterton, prompting a number of last-minute calls that required razor-sharp reactions, but everybody pulled together and we were rewarded with some excellent results. 
 
“It was a bold approach to go against the grain by running the hard tyres in race one, but Josh and Aiden had the courage of their convictions and after taking the pain, the fightback was able to begin. They drove superbly in really unpredictable conditions in race two to gain 24 positions between them, making them the biggest movers in the field and proving that the Corolla is an extremely capable package come rain or shine.
 
“To then achieve a double podium in race three – completing an all-Toyota top three lockout – was outstanding, as both drivers artfully exploited their soft tyre advantage to fully vindicate the strategy we had chosen. Two Teams’ trophies were simply the icing on the cake, and we look forward to doing it all over again at Thruxton in just a few days’ time!”
 
Josh Cook, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
 
“I can’t be disappointed to come away from Snetterton with two podiums. It was a solid points weekend with strong pace, although we struggled a little bit for grip on Saturday – I thought we were either going to produce something really special in qualifying or it would all go down the pan! Unfortunately, I hit a patch of water under the bridge on my final ‘flyer’ in Q3 and it just sent me off backwards.
 
“We purposely sacrificed race one to get the hard tyre out of the way and try to open up some opportunities later in the day. The inconsistent weather hampered that plan somewhat, and it looked like we had made the wrong decision at the start of race two. Obviously it then came back to us, but honestly, that one was anyone’s guess!
 
“Keeping the soft tyre up our sleeves for race three helped us to secure an amazing result for the team. Everybody has worked so hard and the one-two-three was thoroughly well-deserved. Of course I want to be the one standing on the top step, but my lower hybrid allocation meant that was always going to be tough and in situations like that where I can’t win myself, I was very glad it was my team-mates up there with me.”
 
Aiden Moffat, Driver, LKQ Euro Car Parts with SYNETIQ, said:
 
“That was an up-and-down weekend, to say the least! There was a split-moment where I thought I was going to finish race three in the barriers – I felt the back end sliding and thought, ‘that’s my race over’, so I was definitely happy to bring it home in second. 
 
“The conditions all day were simply bizarre. In race three, the track was pretty much dry until we got to the final three corners, and then it was virtually fully wet still, but we’d saved the soft tyres and there was no way we were going to put them to waste so it was just a case of ‘crack on’!
 
“It was a shame that we gave it away so easily with the mistake at Coram, but it was really fun to have another battle like that with Rob [Huff] because there’s a lot of respect between us, and it was a great result for Toyota and all the Speedworks guys. To see how much effort they put in, it was fantastic to reward them with a one-two-three – that was no less than they deserve.”

Images: MJP Media