BTCC Brands Hatch: Cook Wins 2025 Final Clash

Josh Cook Claims Dramatic Victory at Brands Hatch

Josh Cook delivered a thrilling performance in the final race of the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season at Brands Hatch, securing a dramatic victory after starting from the back of the grid. His journey to the top of the podium was marked by resilience, strategic decisions, and intense competition.

Cook faced an early setback when an oil pressure issue forced him out of the first phase of qualifying. However, he quickly bounced back, driving his Speedworks Motorsport Toyota Corolla GR Sport into contention through the first two races of the day. This effort earned him a front-row position on the reversed grid for the final race, where he joined poleman Aiden Moffat and third-on-the-grid Jake Hill in saving their soft tyres for the crucial final showdown.

Despite his strong start, Cook found himself behind Moffat and Hill at the beginning of the race. However, a spectacular launch over the kerbs at Paddock Hill Bend on the second lap gave him the momentum needed to move up the inside of Hill and claim second place at Druids. Ash Sutton then overtook the outgoing champion for third at Surtees.

Cook’s breakthrough came on lap four when he squeezed past Moffat at Surtees to take the lead. The safety car was deployed shortly after due to a collision between Dan Cammish and Dan Rowbottom in the Alliance Racing NAPA Ford Focus STs. This incident allowed Cook to maintain a comfortable gap over his rivals.

Sutton, who also had soft tyres on his Alliance Ford, took the lead after the restart and set the fastest lap on the TOCA Turbo Boost. However, Cook managed to keep the gap around a second, eventually crossing the finish line 1.043 seconds ahead of Sutton.

“It’s the best way to end the season, isn’t it?” Cook reflected. “We’ve had a lot of pace in the car all weekend, and obviously yesterday didn’t go to plan. We knew we could fight back during the day, and that there was a possibility that the win could happen.”

Cook and Sutton had even discussed the possibility of a close battle earlier in the week. “I wanted to keep away from him because I could see that he had strong pace. I just hung on for dear life and tried to keep my gap,” he added.

Jake Hill was closing in on the leading duo but ran out of laps to make a challenge in his farewell race. Aiden Moffat conceded another position on the penultimate lap to Gordon Shedden, who completed a strong race for the Cheshire squad. Moffat narrowly held off Tom Ingram, the newly crowned champion, for fifth place, with Adam Morgan right behind.

Dan Rowbottom finished eighth, followed by Senna Proctor and Sam Osborne. However, Rowbottom was later excluded from the results due to the incident with Cammish, which elevated Dexter Patterson’s Un-Limited Motorsport Cupra to the top 10.

Patterson led his Independent rivals Dan Lloyd and Chris Smiley, with the trio engaged in a tense battle for the Indie crown. Smiley ran second, while Doble appeared to be backing Lloyd into a position where he came under threat from Nic Hamilton. This strategy succeeded late on when Lloyd was demoted by Hamilton, who enjoyed what was likely his best race ever in the BTCC. Despite finishing fifth in class, Lloyd secured the title by four points from Doble, with Smiley just one point behind.

Meanwhile, Daryl DeLeon triumphed in a similarly tense struggle for the Jack Sears Trophy title over West Surrey Racing BMW team-mate Charles Rainford. The gap was three points in DeLeon’s favor after a battle in the wake of JST rivals Osborne and Patterson.

BTCC Brands Hatch – Race 3 Results

Position	Driver	Car	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	J. Cook	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	29'07.334	-	90.23
2	A. Sutton	Ford Focus ST	18	+1.043	29'08.377	90.18
3	J. Hill	BMW 330i M Sport	18	+2.834	29'10.168	90.09
4	G. Shedden	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+13.542	29'20.876	89.54
5	A. Moffat	BMW 330i M Sport	18	+14.750	29'22.084	89.48
6	T. Ingram	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+14.874	29'22.208	89.47
7	A. Morgan	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+15.234	29'22.568	89.45
8	D. Rowbottom	Ford Focus ST	18	+16.638	29'23.972	89.38
9	S. Proctor	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+17.360	29'24.694	89.35
10	S. Osborne	Ford Focus ST	18	+20.031	29'27.365	89.21
11	D. Patterson	Cupra León	18	+20.608	29'27.942	89.18
12	C. Rainford	BMW 330i M Sport	18	+20.635	29'27.969	89.18
13	C. Smiley	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+23.165	29'30.499	89.05
14	D. De Leon	BMW 330i M Sport	18	+23.941	29'31.275	89.01
15	M. Doble	Vauxhall Astra	18	+34.698	29'42.032	88.48
16	M. Buxton	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	18	+35.109	29'42.443	88.46
17	N. Hamilton	Cupra León	18	+35.577	29'42.911	88.43
18	D. Lloyd	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	18	+36.738	29'44.072	88.38
19	N. Halstead	Vauxhall Astra	18	+50.251	29'57.585	87.71
20	A. Taylor-Smith	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	9	+9 Laps	15'42.937	83.60
21	D. Cammish	Ford Focus ST	3	+15 Laps	4'41.639	93.30
22	T. Chilton	Hyundai i30 Fastback N Performance	3	+15 Laps	4'46.377	91.76