COCKER HAS “NOTHING TO LOSE” IN TITLE FIGHT
Former champion says he’s put Brands Hatch disappointment behind him ahead of finale
British GT title challenger Jonny Cocker says
“nothing has changed” in his perception of Barwell Motorsport team-mate
Phil Keen’s controversial final-lap pass at Brands Hatch, but is fully focused on winning the Donington Park decider this weekend.
Cocker and Sam De Haan are 11.5 points behind Keen/adam Balon after Keen’s outside move at the fast Hawthorn Bend caused Cocker to lose momentum and drop from fourth to eighth. Brands winners Jonny Adam and Graham Davidson lie six points off the lead in second, but the TF Sport pair face a 20-second success penalty. Keen/balon and Adam/davidson can seal the title with victory, while Cocker/de Haan need to win with Keen/balon third or lower.
Keen admitted he expected the
atmosphere in the Barwell garage to be strained (MN, August 7), but 2004 champion Cocker says he will put the frustration to the back of his mind.
“It was unfortunate, but I’m thankful that we’ve had a break for everybody to put it behind them and push on,” said Cocker, who finished third in the
championship’s first of two visits to Donington in June. “We’re going to put everything into winning that race, because we’ve got no other option.
“We should be going in four to five points ahead, I feel like that’s what we deserve, but nothing is going to change that now. In terms of awkwardness within the team,
that’s not where my focus will be, I couldn’t care less to be honest.
“The key is for us to qualify well and for Sam to get up the road, whatever happens behind us at that point is outside of our control. We could win the race and still not win the championship, but that’s where we need to be finishing.
“We’re not interested in finishing second, so we’ve got nothing to lose and we’ll be driving accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Davidson has fired a warning shot at the Barwell team, having scored his first series pole and won on the championship’s previous visit to Donington.
“The most critical lap of my life comes in qualifying and I need to do what I did last time, be on the front and pull away, then if we come out of the pits ahead we should be OK,” Davidson told MN.
“It’s annoying that we’re not going in with a bit of a points buffer, but it’s better to chase than be chased.”