RYAN Cook secured two top-three finishes driving the Swindon Speedway race car in round one of the Peugeot 206 GTi Production Cup at Brands Hatch recently.

The meeting was Cook’s maiden visit to Brands Hatch, so the practice and qualifying sessions were about learning the track.

It did not take him long to get to grips with the circuit, though, as Cook posted a best time of 1min 02.151secs for fourth in his class.

A good start to race one kept Cook in fourth place and in contention with the leading pack. As the race went on, he made his way into third and then second with five laps to go.

Cook swiftly began to chase the leader but despite setting the fastest lap amongst the 206s with 1:00.428, laps ran out before he could pass so he had to settle for second place.

That gave Cook second place on the grid for the second race but this time he started poorly and fell back to fifth place.

A crash saw the race restarted on lap three, with Cook having been promoted to fourth as a result, and this time his start was much better as he soon claimed two more places into second.

Again Cook set out closing the gap to the leader and he pulled off a fine cutback to snatch first place with five laps to go.

Cook quickly pulled a slight gap to the chasing cars, but by this time cars from various other classes were spread around the track.

With two laps to go, Cook had a healthy lead only to be clipped by a car in another class, sending him across the grass and only able to recover to third place by the finish.

Cook said: “All in all, it was a great way to start the season and hopefully a good insight on how the year will pan o