Renault UK Clio Cup

Smith Retains Clio Championship Top Ten Despite Donington Retirement

1 Mins read

Rob Smith bounced back from an opening race retirement to secure a top ten finish in the Renault UK Clio Cup at Donington Park, in the process retaining his top ten position in the championship standings.

At his adopted ‘home’ circuit, the Total Control Racing driver’s weekend got off to a negative start in round three, the second year saloon car racer a blameless victim of multi-car contact at the first corner of the race, rear axle damage ending his race.

A superb start to the second race saw the 20 year old slice through the field into fourteenth place on the opening lap, before working his way into the top ten on lap four. After being shuffled back down to thirteenth soon after, a great recovery saw him finish tenth at the flag.

“It was great to put on a good show for all the guests we had here this weekend, Sunday’s race was definitely the best Clio race I’ve ever been involved in,” said the Telford driver. “It was kicking off left, right and centre and there were lots of battles all the way through. If we can qualify better, we know we can race up there near the front and that’s what we’re aiming for.

“We think the problems we had in testing and qualifying were down to tyre pressures really, with the sort of understeer we had it was like the scrub you have with a road tyre. We think the tyre was just folding under itself so we put a bit more pressure in the fronts for race two, it made the tyres a bit stiffer and they held the road that bit better. It definitely made a positive difference.”

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Simon is an experienced journalist and PR officer, who has worked in the national motorsport paddocks for over a decade, primarily on the BTCC support package.
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