After missing out on top spot in the opening race of the weekend, Ant Whorton-Eales hit back in style with victory in Round Eight of the 2016 Renault UK Clio Cup at Oulton Park, a result that moves him up to second in the championship standings.
Whorton-Eales stormed past championship leader Mike Bushell to take the win, which continues his record of winning half of the races so far this campaign, while Senna Proctor completed the podium positions for his first Clio Cup rostrum.
From pole position, Bushell led the field through Old Hall for the first time, whilst a fast-starting Whorton-Eales dispatched Paul Rivett off the start line before storming past Proctor for second into Cascades.
Whorton-Eales quickly set his sights on the race lead and his pressure on Bushell paid off at the start of lap three, with a wide moment for the leader being all Whorton-Eales needed to get down the inside and take control of the race.
Bushell remained around the half a second mark of the leader for a few laps until another mistake at Old Hall gave Whorton-Eales the breathing room he needed, controlling the gap over the second half of the race en-route to victory.
Behind, there was an almighty scrap for third place throughout as Proctor fended off a queue of cars headed by WDE Motorsport duo Paul Rivett and Charlie Ladell, the latter having grabbed fifth on the opening tour as Max Coates lost ground.
Rivett kept Proctor under immense pressure, but the three-time champion exceeded track limits on too many occasions whilst doing so, which meant the stewards handed him a five second penalty that ruled him out of podium contention.
They continued to battle on circuit though, with the impressive Proctor fending off his much more experienced adversary to take the final podium position. Rivett was fourth on the road, but the close nature of the field meant he dropped to twelfth in the classified results.
That promoted Ladell to fourth, the Donington Park podium-finisher posting the fastest lap of the race en-route, while Coates fought back after his slow start to pass Luke Kidsley and Daniel Rowbottom en-route to fifth.
Rowbottom completed the top six ahead of Lee Pattison and Kidsley, the latter securing his best result of the season so far in eighth, whilst Finesse Motorsport duo Paul Streather and Jake Giddings rounded out the top ten.
David Dickenson recovered from an early moment to take eleventh, with Rory Green completing his strongest weekend of the season so far in thirteenth ahead of George Jackson, Josh Price, Ollie Pidgley and Anton Spires.
Full race results can be found here.
