At the eighteenth time of trying, Mike Bushell secured his first victory at home circuit Brands Hatch in Round Two of the 2017 Renault UK Clio Cup.
Following up a second place finish in the opening race, the 2014 series champion superbly converted pole position into a lights-to-flag win around the Indy circuit.
Bushell didn’t have it all his own way during the race however, with his rookie Pyro team-mate Jack McCarthy impressively pressuring him for much of the race.
McCarthy’s would make an attempt for the lead at Paddock on lap fifteen, but a subsequent loss of momentum on the exit would result in him dropping to fourth.
Depriving him of a maiden podium finish was the experienced WDE duo Lee Pattison and Paul Rivett, with the former ending the meeting as joint championship leader with Bushell.
Max Coates had held third during an early safety car period caused by an off for Kyle Hornby, but a wild moment at Clearways dropped him down the order.
The reigning Graduates Cup champion recovered to sixth at the finish behind James Colburn, while Ollie Pidgley and Dan Zelos were in hot pursuit.
Shayne Deegan ran as high as sixth at one stage before dropping back to ninth, but he did end the race with the new series lap record for Brands Indy on the faster new-for-2017 Michelin tyres.
Daniel Rowbottom completed the top ten ahead of Lucas Orrock, Sam Osborne, Ash Hand, Aaron Thompson, Jade Edwards and James Dorlin, the latter unable to repeat his race one heroics.
For Orrock, the result was a positive end to a meeting that started with him rolling his Clio in Friday testing, before he suffered a mechanical retirement in his replacement car in race one.
Full race results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/file/?f=TOCA/2017/171303cli.pdf
