Championship: Renault Clio Cup UK
Team: Total Control Racing
Sponsor: Professional MotorSport World Expo
Silverstone was host to our only round not shared with the BTCC, but huge crowds were expected for the UK round of the World Series by Renault. Almost 250,000 people had registered for free tickets and 85,000 people were in attendance for Sunday’s race day.
Due to the busy timetable we only had one, 40-minute session in which to check the setup of the cars. New for this race the car features the new front bumper, headlights and rear diffuser from the new-look Clio Renault Sport 200 road car, as well as a new front wishbone design. A week earlier, the official test at Snetterton had confirmed that the car had a much sharper turn-in (particularly in slow- and medium-speed corners), which saw many drivers being caught out. Indeed I was caught short at the Snetterton test and lost the car under braking, making contact with the Armco and severely damaging the front end of the car. A quick call to race-car insurance specialists, Motorsport Insurance Services, and some very quick work by Total Control Racing meant the car was almost completely re-built for Silverstone.
Our only practice session of the weekend was wet and very slippery with many cars ending in the gravel, causing several frustrating red flag periods. At the end of the session many drivers, including myself, were very disappointed to only have completed one flying lap of the Silverstone GP circuit, a circuit that I am unfamiliar with having only raced their once, at last year’s World Series by Renault meeting.
Qualifying saw me line up 8th for race one and 7th for race two. The start grid for race one was rather confusing with the organizers placing the cars in unexpected grid positions with a much larger gap between the cars than usual. The start was more spread out than usual and I felt confident of moving forwards. However, a series of battles with cars in front of me saw me slide back down the order rather than forward. Much to my disappointment I found myself 13th at the midway point. Thankfully we had an extra 10 minutes of racing and I began to find my rhythm and had climbed back up to 8th and was putting Aron Smith under pressure on the approach to Bridge when suddenly the engine and all the electronics cut out, leaving me coasting to a halt and out of the race! Later analysis found a stone picked up into the alternator belt had caused a very rare and unlucky failure and meant I scored no points.
Race two saw the cars line up in a strange order once again with pole position moved to the outside of the line off the start. A much closer start saw me maintain my 7th position but once again a series of ambitious moves saw me drop back to 11th place. A great four-car battle with two of my team-mates and reigning champion, Ben Winrow, saw positions swapping almost every lap and some very close racing. Team manager Lee Brookes was biting his nails behind the pit wall watching three of his cars almost make contact on several occasions! Thankfully contact did not occur and a great battle ended with 8th place across the line behind Winrow.
With the retirement from race one I have dropped back to 6th in the overall standings, and with a four-week break before Snetterton I will have time to gather my thoughts and come out fighting for a podium on another circuit I enjoy and have had success at in the past.
The next round of the Renault Clio Cup was held at Croft in Yorkshire, where I had a disastrous and dramatic weekend last year and is not a circuit I would rank amongst my favorites.
Stunning pace from a returning Stefan Hodgetts had the paddock talking, over three-tenths faster than anyone else in free practice. We also noticed that to qualify well the new tires were only going to give one really good lap before they immediately started to deteriorate. Qualifying went well and I had managed to secure third on the grid for both of the two races for the weekend, with Hodgetts lining up behind me for both races.
Race one saw a great start and I was immediately challenging the top two for the lead through the first corner and chicane. Then the two leaders, slow out of Tower bend, were side by side leaving me nowhere to go and before I knew it Hodgetts had dived down the inside going into Sunny In. A few scrappy laps saw me drop a few car lengths back from the top three but as the race settled and I had a comfortable gap behind me I started to close back in on the leaders. For the second half of the race I was lapping quicker than the lead three and the fight for the lead had turned into a four-car battle. No one made a mistake and passing opportunities were very hard to find so I eventually crossed the line 4th.
Lining up in third spot once again with the top five unchanged for race two I made another good start, a hard tap from Hodgetts in the first corner meant I had to quickly catch the back end and try to maintain position. Determined not to let Hodgetts pass me again I knew if I could stay ahead for the first couple of laps I would be able to hold him off for the remainder of the race. Making our way round the first lap he again made a late and sudden move into the final hairpin, which I did not expect at all. To my horror I had left the door open and he needed no second invitation…
The top four again pulled away from the chasing pack until we came through the first chicane on one lap to find no grip at all. Unknown to us an incident lower down the order on the previous lap had left some fluid on the racing line. All four of us took to the grass on the exit and as I came back onto the circuit I ran over a large piece of debris. Whatever I had hit clearly knocked something out of line and the car suddenly became a real handful under heavy braking and I was really struggling to get the car turned in. My lap times dropped by almost a second a lap but thankfully I had enough of a gap just to hold onto 4th place.
A really good weekend for me and a bad weekend for my championship rivals meant I moved up to 5th in the standings –only 12 points behind fourth and 22 behind 3rd. Bring on the next round!!
After what had felt like my best chance of scoring my first race win in the Clio Cup Championship at Donington we moved to Oulton Park, another circuit I really love and one where I had been on the podium all of the three times I had raced there previously. Immediately in Friday practice I felt confident in the car and was quickly up to speed setting the 3rd fastest time in both practice sessions.
Fantastic weather forecast all weekend meant that for once the weather would not play a role in deciding the outcome of qualifying and racing. A typically close qualifying session saw me running second for the majority of practice and I had set two almost identical laps. A last lap gasp from Dave Newsham and Aron Smith demoted me to 5th for race one but I still had my best qualifying of 3rd for race two.
At the start of race one I got an awful start and was passed by two cars by the end of the first lap and spent the majority of the race behind my rookie team-mate Sam Tordoff in 7th place. A collection of rather damaged looking Clios in the Knickerbrook Chicane brought out the safety car around the halfway point. On the restart Tordoff seemed to be struggling for grip, running wide on the exit of Lodge and I sensed a chance of making a move. Rushing towards Lodge a lap later I got a great run through Druids and made a last-minute dash to the inside. Convinced I had left it too late I was almost certain I was going to make contact with my team mate, something I really didn’t want to have to explain to my team after the race, but thankfully Sam gave me enough room and we exited the corner over the line side by side giving me the inside line into Old Hall. Crossing the line a few laps later I was relieved to have made it back to where I had started in 5th after my poor start.
For race two I sat nervously on the grid just hoping I would make a better start than in race one. Thankfully I did, but it was still not a perfect start and I was under huge pressure from Dave Newsham, who started alongside me on the grid, going into the first corner. Holding the inside line I left my braking as late as possible and exited the corner still in third place. A rather lonely race followed – I was close to the leaders but not quite close enough to mount a challenge – but had a nice four-second gap back to Newsham in 4th, and I finally scored my first podium of the year!
On the back of my season-best finish at Thruxton I could not wait to get back on track at the next round of the Elf Renault Clio Cup UK Championship, particularly as rounds 5 and 6 would take place at my favorite circuit – Donington Park – where I scored my best result of 2nd place in last year's championship. This year I would hope to go one better!
The weekend started well during Friday practice, where I was almost immediately able to set a pace similar to last year's qualifying, although towards the end of the first session we struggled to find more speed on brand new tires. Heavy rain the day before meant the track conditions were not perfect and during the final practice session we were interrupted by light rain again, but with the weather forecast for the weekend looking very unsettled I was glad to get a chance to get some wet practice.
Qualifying took place on a damp Saturday morning following more rain overnight. By the time the 26-car grid took to the field the track had fully dried and I was immediately in the top 5 for the majority of the 30-minute session. Unfortunately this was not to stay the same as the times came tumbling down as the track conditions improved with more and more rubber going down. A late pit stop for my second set of new front tires meant I was unable to get sufficient heat into the tires (a problem we had experienced in the Friday practice session) and by the time the chequered flag had fallen I had dropped to a disappointing 9th place for race one and 8th for race two.
Race one got off to a difficult start because the car directly in front of me on the grid was completely blocking the start lights from my view! In the end I had to use the cars around me as a signal the race had started which meant my reaction time off the start was slow and I immediately had to defend my position going into the Redgate for the first time. Some ambitious driving from some drivers going into the Old Hairpin brought out the safety car to recover three cars from the gravel. After the restart it took a few laps to get the front end to work but once everything was up to temperature the car felt fantastic and I was able to move up to 6th position until a heavy rain shower two laps before the end sent the race into chaos, particularly at the Old Hairpin, where almost everyone took to the grass (myself included). I eventually finished the race 8th.
Race two began on a wet but drying track with drivers choosing different tire combinations, all hoping the conditions would play into their hands. I had chosen to start the race on full wet tires in the hope that it would rain again. The weather was not on my side and although I managed to climb from 8th up to 4th at one point in the race, the rapidly drying circuit started to play into the hands of the drivers who had chosen to start on slicks. By the end of the race they were almost four seconds a lap faster and I crossed the line to take 6th place.
Round 2 of the 2009 Elf Renualt Clio Cup UK Championship again followed the BTCC to Thruxton, where I was relishing the chance to make up for my shaky start at Brands. The meeting there that left me outside the top 10 in the championship, with a DNF, and two endorsements on my race license – not what I’d had in mind!
Thruxton is a circuit that I enjoy and my pace in testing a week prior to the race weekend, which left me 4th overall, meant I was confident of a stronger showing and a chance to move up in the championship fight.
After rain overnight, on Saturday morning the sun was shining and the track dried just in time for qualifying. A very green track meant that lap times were significantly down compared with testing as we struggled for grip for most of the session. By the end of qualifying the track had improved and I had managed to set a time two tenths off the time I’d produced in testing, good enough to put me in fourth position for the start of both races – my highest starting place yet in this championship.
In race one on Saturday, the lights went out, and a slight hesitation letting the clutch all the way out meant I was already fighting off Andrew Herron (on my inside) and Alex McDowell on my outside before we had arrived at the first corner! By the end of the lap I was 6th and behind the safety car (a common sight in Clios) following an incident that left four cars out of the race. Six long laps later and we were racing again. A three-car battle for 4th place between me, Aaron Smith, and Dave Newsham heated up on the penultimate lap, and a tap from Smith caused me to spin and drop to 8th!
In race two I had a similar start and had dropped two places before we reached Noble but later gained a position back from fellow TCR competitor, Sam Tordof, who ran wide on the exit of the Club Chicane allowing me to take the inside line. I eventually crossed the line to take 5th position, my best result of season so far.
Two weeks ago, I had a very disappointing start to the 2009 Renault Clio Cup UK Championship at Brands Hatch. I wasn’t especially pleased with my unremarkable 7th-place finish in race one, but I was very disgruntled after my second race ended in the gravel trap at Druids Hairpin following an ambitious move up from series newcomer Tom Carnaby. Thankfully my Motorsport Insurance Services backed car only suffered a broken steering arm in the incident and no major damage to the bodywork was done.
Like any driver who has a poor race weekend, I’ve thought of little else during the last 14 days – incident aside, I could and should have been quicker. Indeed, throughout the weekend I lacked confidence under braking, especially through the relatively fast Paddock Hill Bend and into Druids. The team and I have repeatedly discussed the problem – was it was the car or simply me? Unfortunately, the latter answer was correct, but fortunately, I’m confident I overcame the issue at the official test at Thruxton last week…
I was only 7th quickest overall in the first test session and I still didn’t feel 100% confident while braking, so Total Control Racing called in expert help to analyze my data. They quickly discovered a braking curve that spiked dramatically just before corner entry, thus highlighting that I’ve not been slowing the car down enough before the corner. This slip-up also explained why I frequently complain of understeer into the slower corners. To cap it all, the analyst also discovered that I had been using far less brake pressure that I should have been. I subsequently set the fastest first sector time and finished 4th overall in the second session!
My confidence is now suitably restored and I am relishing the chance to get back in the car to improve my current championship standing of 12th place.
Next stop: Thruxton race weekend this Saturday and Sunday.
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