Ash Hand continued to make his presence known in the fiercely-contested Renault UK Clio Cup during the latest rounds at Donington Park, only his third and fourth ever car races.
The karting graduate travelled to Donington buoyed by an impressive debut three weeks earlier at Brands Hatch, Hand continued his top ten form in qualifying, putting himself tenth and eighth on the grid for the two encounters in Leicestershire.
The 18 year old briefly slipped to eleventh at the start of race one, before regaining tenth before the end of the opening lap. With a gap having already formed to those ahead though, Hand endured a rather lonely run to tenth, his second top ten finish in three starts.
Race two was more eventful for the Warwickshire racer, with some strong early running seeing him work his way into seventh. It was going smoothly for Hand until some battling ahead saw two drivers shoot off track at the Old Hairpin, with one re-joining right in front of Hand, forcing him off the track in avoidance.
After a run over the grass, Hand emerged in sixteenth, with dirty tyres meaning he could only fight back to fourteenth at the flag. Hand now sits thirteenth in the championship standings heading to the next rounds at Thruxton.
“I learned a lot again at Donington, I honed my racecraft a little bit more, my understanding of how to get the best out of the tyres improved and my speed was good, too, so we need to take that form on and continue to move up the grid,” he said. “Thruxton is definitely my favourite circuit I’ve been to, and its fast-and-flowing, balls-out nature seems to suit my driving style. We went well there in pre-season testing, so I’m really looking forward to going back, to be honest – and hopefully it will play to my strengths. Bring it on!””
