Jack Goff Leads The Clio Field At Rockingham - Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Jack Goff took a comfortable second win of the season in Round Thirteen of the 2011 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK at Rockingham, Goff leading home a one-two-three for Team Pyro.
In qualifying earlier in the day, Goff stormed to pole position ahead of team-mate Josh Files, with championship rivals James Colburn, James Dixon and Aron Smith next up, while series leader Paul Rivett had to settle for sixteenth place after his car lost power early in the session.
A great start for Westbourne Motorsport's Colburn saw him storm into lead around the opening bend, with Luke Wright and Jake Packun also getting strong starts to get themselves in the mix heading into Deene Hairpin for the first time. With cars heading into the hairpin three-abreast in the pack, it was a miracle when all emerged unsaved, though losing out was Colburn, slipping to third behind Goff and Files.
This left Colburn under pressure from Packun and the Get On Track Developments driver got ahead at Tarzan, but Colburn fought back at the final chicane. Packun was to lose a place a lap later when Wright got by with a similar move at Tarzan, though the Scuderia Vittoria driver ran wide and pulled off at the next bend with broken steering, retiring from the race.
By lap three the front two began to break away, with Colburn leading the championship contenders in a lonely third, with Smith up to fifth ahead of Dixon and Rivett close behind after a charge through to ninth. Smith was soon up to fourth after passing Packun at Tarzan, the Irishman just getting past before the safety car was introduced to retrieve Wright's stricken car.
At the restart, Goff got away cleanly to lead from Files, with Smith getting a run on Colburn and sliding past at Deene to take third, with Packun following through at Chapman to drop Colburn into Dixon's sights in fifth. The duo were soon being closed down by Rivett, who got up to eighth just after the restart before passing Bonham at Tarzan on lap six, with Bonham's race ending soon after with mechanical problems.
With the front-running cars spread apart, the remainder of the race proved uneventful, though having no complaints at this was Goff, who cruised home for the victory, with Files taking his best result of the season in second. Smith took his seventh podium of the year in third, moving him to within two points of Rivett at the top of the championship standings, with Packun fourth.
Colburn, Dixon and Rivett were next up, ahead of impressive series newcomer Ant Whorton-Eales, series returnee Rob Boston and Craig Currie. Another series returnee David Dickenson was next up, with Mark Proctor taking the Masters Cup honours in twelfth, ahead of Darren Wilson, Nicolas Hamilton, newcomer Andy Gorton and prize winner Mark Gibbons.
