Cook returns to MG Racing as Lloyd replacement
Josh Cook is to return to MG Racing for the remainder of the season, replacing Daniel Lloyd, who quit the team yesterday.
Cook finished twelfth in the drivers' championship for the Chinese marque last season, taking podium finishes at Donington Park and Brands Hatch, but had moved to the Maximum Motorsport team for 2017.
The Somerset-based driver, who celebrates his 26th birthday next week, made his BTCC debut in 2015 with Power Maxed Racing, winning the Jack Sears Trophy that same season before getting the call up by the works MG team for 2016.
He is currently twelfth in the standings in this year's championship, with six top-ten finishes from the first twelve races.
“Firstly I would like to thank all those at Team Parker with Maximum Motorsport for the opportunity at the start of the season and for all of their hard work," said Cook. "I wish them further success and now look forward to building on my 2016 season with MG in the MG6.”
MG Racing team principal Nico Ferrari said: “It’s a shame things didn’t work out with Dan (Lloyd) but now we’re in a great position to continue improving the MG6 and we can start to prove the capability of the car. The team have gone through a huge shake up in recent weeks and this is only adding to the strength of the new look Triple Eight Racing.”
“Josh’s experience in the MG last year will be a huge boost for our engineering team. Árón (Taylor-Smith) is a superb driver and has done an exceptional job developing the car, these two will work great together both racing but also promoting our partners MG. Josh was excellent last year, as is Árón this year so we’re now in a position to really capitalise on two brilliant drivers.”
The BTCC continues live on ITV Sport this weekend, with coverage of qualifying online at itv.com/btcc on Saturday at 3.55pm, and race day coverage on ITV4 from 11.15am on Sunday.