Jack Goff maintained his position as the man to beat in the 2012 AirAsia Renault Clio Cup UK as the championship leader secured pole positions for Rounds Eleven and Twelve at Rockingham.
Returning to the scene of a stunning double victory last year, Goff emerged at the front of an incredibly tight session, where at least half a dozen different cars had topped the timesheets at different points early in the session.
Goff went to the top of the timesheets with ten minutes to go of the half hour session and took pole for the opening race by 0.049s from team-mate Josh Files. Paul Rivett and James Dixon went third and fourth quickest, the top four being split by just 0.174s.
Westbourne Motorsport’s James Colburn was fifth ahead of Adam Bonham, Josh Cook and Ant Whorton-Eales, with Mike Bushell and Jake Giddings rounding out a top ten split by just 0.491s, with the competitiveness of the field shown by the fact less than a second separated the top fifteen. Simon Belcher topped the Masters runners in twelfth, behind a struggling Stefan Hodgetts, while Nicolas Hamilton secured thirteenth before an accident ended his session.
The driver’s second best times formed the grid for the weekend’s second race, with Goff on pole once again, this time joined on the front row by chief championship rival Rivett. Dixon will line up third ahead of Colburn, Bonham, Files, Cook and Bushell.
