James Colburn Put Himself Third And First On The Grid For The Two Clio Races At Thruxton - Photo Credit: Stuart Paice
Adam Bonham and James Colburn coped best with the wet Thruxton conditions to top the timesheets in qualifying for Rounds Five and Six of the 2012 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK.
The driver's best times set the grid for the opening race and leading the way was Team Pyro's Bonham, the second year driver producing a best time of 1:30.959s to pip team-mate Josh Files to pole by just 0.002s.
Colburn was third fastest, only a further 0.076s adrift, while fourth after a great performance was rookie Ignis Gelzinis, the Lithuanian's best performance of his short Clio Cup career to date. Championship leader Jack Goff could only manage fifth ahead of fellow Pyro driver Kim Andersson.
A superb seventh quickest was Nicolas Hamilton, the Total Control Racing driver enjoying a much more positive qualifying session than he did in 2011. Mike Bushell took eighth, while ninth was a frustrated Paul Rivett, the reigning champion 0.466s off pole. Next up were Scuderia Vittoria team-mates James Dixon and Luke Wright, while a strong twelfth was Adam Gould, the rallying convert the final driver within a second of pole.
The driver's second best times form the grid for the second race, with a lap of 1:31.084s putting Westbourne Motorsport's Colburn on pole. Bonham will join him on the front row ahead of team-mates Files and Goff, while Rivett will line up in an improved fifth.
Hamilton was sixth quickest ahead of Bushell, Dixon, Wright and Andersson. Gelzinis could take eleventh with his second best lap, while Gould was once again twelfth.
Full results can be found here: http://tsl-timing.com/toca/2012/121703cli.pdf
