Sam Tordoff has secured the perfect start to his 2010 Elf Renault Clio Cup campaign after recording a second and third position in the opening rounds of the campaign around the super fast Thruxton airfield circuit.
The Total Control Racing youngster the whole of the first race chasing down forty-two year old Dave Newsham of Team Pyro. The final lap saw the lead duo go through Village, Goodwood and Church side by side, with the experienced Scotsman defending from the Loughborough University student at the final chicane. Tordoff took the Graduate Cup honours in the opening race.
The second race saw Tordoff start on the inside of row two, but didn't use it to his advantage as he dropped down to fourth place, but the Leeds youngster was able to stay ahead of TCR team mate Mike Robinson – who had jumped seventeen year old James Colburn. The following lap saw Tordoff recover the third position as he found a way past Jake Packun at the Complex, and set about closing the gap to second placed Lee Pattison. Lap eight saw the lead trio separated by ninth tenths of a second, and two laps later Tordoff dropped back to fourth as Packun found his way past at the Complex. The penultimate lap saw Tordoff gain a podium finish as early race leader Newsham developed a fuel problem which caused the Scotsman to drop off the podium.
At the end of the twelve lap race round the 2.35 mile airfield circuit, Tordoff was third and claimed his second podium of the weekend – the leading quartet were separated by one and a quarter seconds, while TCR Team mate Robinson led home the next train of cars, taking home his best result of the weekend with a fifth.
After the opening two races of the Championship, Tordoff is currently third in the standings with fifty three points while Robinson occupies fifth position with thirty four points.
TCR Team Boss Lee Brookes said about the Clio race results: “In Clios we wanted to win but to come away with two podiums, points in the bag, and with no damage from this event is a good thing. We weren't quite as quick as we'd hoped to be but I'm sure we'll be able to challenge for the win at Rockingham. Sam and Mike have both made a good start to the season, now we need to build on that.”
Rounds three and four of the twenty round season take place at the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Northamptonshire on the 24/25 April, again supporting the Dunlop MSA British Touring Car Championship.
Photo credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography
