Cook joins Speedworks as Butcher takes break in GTS
British Touring Car Championship star Josh Cook has lined up a seat with the expanded four-car line-up of Toyota squad Speedworks Motorsport for 2024. But Rory Butcher, the team’s highest-profile driver of the past three years, has elected to take a BTCC ‘sabbatical’ after a tough 2023.
Cook moves to the Cheshire operation after five years behind the wheel of Honda Civics run by BTC Racing/one Motorsport, where the 32-year-old scored 16 of his 18 BTCC race victories. He will race one of two Corolla GR Sports to be fielded under the LKQ Euro Car Parts with Synetiq banner, alongside a brace entered by Toyota Gazoo Racing UK. LKQ backed the One Hondas taken to podium finishes in 2023 by Cook and Aiden Moffat. No other drivers have been confirmed by Speedworks.
“It’s been a great few years with One Motorsport,” said Cook. “I want to give a nod to them and
Steve Dudman [One principal] for the amount of time we’ve spent together. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t have been on the grid for all those years.
“This is a bit of a change, but the new challenge is exciting, and it gets me driven and excited to come back for this year and put together a campaign to challenge for the title.”
Cook is a long-time friend of new Speedworks head of racing Danny Buxton, who was team boss of BTC and One for an 18-month period through 2022 and 2023. “I’m excited to work with Christian [Dick, team principal], Danny and John [Gilbert, Speedworks shareholder],” he added. “They’ve got a fairly comprehensive testing plan in place, and they’ve done a lot of development of the car over the winter. The results at the minute from testing look to be very positive.”
Cook plans to continue working with his long-time engineer, the unrelated former Super Nova F3000/GP2 techie Mick Cook.
Butcher (below) is effectively seeking to recharge his batteries by returning to his GT roots, and is targeting the 24-hour races at Spa and the Nurburgring plus historic racing.
“As much as the car wasn’t a championship-winning car [in 2023], if I was on my A-game I believe I could finish in the top six,” he said. “But sometimes when you’re not in the right frame of mind you attract things like incidents and punctures.
“Its 100% the right decision for me at this time, but I’ve got unfinished business and want to come back. I don’t believe I’m any slower than I was in 2022 [when he was fifth].”