Finesse Motorsport team principal Neil Giddings hopes his team can be “real contenders” this season after taking victory on the opening weekend of the 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup season with Paul Streather.
In only his third ever Clio Cup race, Streather stormed into the race lead through the opening corner and maintained his advantage throughout the 23 lap encounter, despite immense pressure throughout from experienced Clio stars Lee Pattison and Paul Rivett.
Streather backed it up with another strong performance in race two, briefly holding on to third position before losing out to former champion Mike Bushell, eventually taking fourth at the flag to leave the weekend second in the championship standings.
“It’s unbelievable to win the first race of the season, we’re made up,” said Giddings, who is hoping to see the team expand to a two-car entry soon.
“We’ve got the pace to be up the front, we’ve proved it, so hopefully we can keep this up for the rest of the season and be real contenders.”
Streather added: “I’m really, really happy. To come here and win at the first event, carrying on from Brands at the end of last year where we came second, was tremendous.
“I think this has proved to a lot of people in the paddock we’re not here to mess around, we’re here to get on with the job. Finesse have been brilliant prepping the car and doing everything they could to make the car as quick as it is.”
