Racing on the National circuit at Silverstone has always provided close and exciting racing, it may not be a drivers favourite track but you can’t argue with the entertainment factor! This weekend’s Clio Cup action didn’t disappoint!
SV had high hopes of victory this weekend, Stefan Hodgetts – our lead driver had a new shell in preparation for Silverstone due to an accident at the previous round at Rockingham. The added rigidity a new shell can give the driver is always welcome, especially as the Clio Championship is so close – any small advantage is important.
Qualifying was not what we had hoped for apart from Vic Covey, who managed to place himself 11th, his highest qualifying performance of the year – great job! Stefan would start 8th and 6th, Finlay Crocker 19th and 20th and Ronnie Klos 19th and 17th.
Race one gave us the inevitable and expected carnage as 21 Clio’s headed into Becketts. Hodgett’s is fantastic on cold tyres and as expected he made his way into 4th by the end of lap one. The Championship battle had also hotted up as Paul Rivett had gone off at Becketts, seemingly leaving Jack Goff to extend his lead…. Stefan then made a couple of great moves on Adam Bonham and James Dixon to gain 2nd place and then set about catching runaway leader Josh Cook. After reeling Cook in, Stefan had a few ‘nibbles’ at Brooklands but Cook defended impressively and held firm to gain the win. Still 2nd place was encouraging, and it felt good for SV to be back on the podium.
Finlay Crocker had gained 5 or 6 spots in the first few corners but this coincided with Vic Covey making a bad start and the two cars made slight contact at Becketts, leaving Finlay with nowhere to go and endure a small spin. He did make his way back though and was only 3 tenths off the leaders lap times without benefit of a tow, which was extremely impressive. Vic had a less eventful race and brought the car home in 13th. Ronnie, after an eventful battle with Nicholas Hamilton, William Davison and Jake Gidding spent the last 8 laps with his mirrors full of David Dickenson – but defended very well and finished in 15th.
Race two didn’t go according to plan for any of the drivers as Stefan made a mistake at Luffield whilst battling with the leaders and the One Call guys got embroiled in a few incidents!
Anyway, this leaves us with one meeting left in two weeks at Brands Hatch. I’m backing Hodgetts to come good there…. Finlay or Ronnie for the Masters win – watch this space!
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Thanks for reading, remember it’s all about #winning! Be good ;)
