Ant Whorton-Eales made it three different winners in three Renault UK Clio Cup races at Donington Park, the SV Racing ace extending his championship lead with his second victory of the campaign.
In similar fashion to Round Three earlier in the day, Whorton-Eales was able to edge a gap to the pack in the early laps, though once again found himself closed by a group of Clio’s behind.
Those cars belonged to Ashley Sutton, Jack Mitchell and Jordan Stilp, with the quartet sticking together for the first handful of laps before a developing scrap for second allowed the leader to break clear.
Pulling away at a rate of at least three tenths of a second a lap, Whorton-Eales eventually took his third career Clio Cup victory by nearly three seconds.
The fight for second was between Clio rookies Sutton and Mitchell, with Sutton holding the position for the first few laps before a challenge for the lead at Redgate left him open to a move up the inside from Mitchell.
The reigning Ginetta Junior champion soaked up pressure from Sutton for the next half dozen laps before squeezing through at Redgate on lap eleven. That proved to be the decisive move, Sutton holding position until the end for second, while Mitchell took his maiden outright podium finish with third.
Stilp was part of the fight at the front early on, but soon found himself defending his fourth place from Ash Hand and Paul Rivett. Changing positions multiple times in the closing stages, Round Three winner Hand eventually took the spot, with Rivett leading home Stilp for fourth.
Dan Holland and Charlie Ladell had joined the fight for the top four as the race headed towards its conclusion, however contact at Redgate two laps from the end left Holland in the gravel and an eventual 17th place finish, with Ladell only salvaging tenth.
After a wayward moment on the opening lap, Brett Smith climbed from twelfth to seventh ahead of Rory Collingbourne, George Jackson and the aforementioned Ladell.
A great scrap between Ben Seyfried, Rory Green and Thomas Grundy early on eventually resulted in Seyfried taking the Masters Cup win in eleventh ahead of Green, while a high-speed spin for Grundy at the Old Hairpin left him fourteenth.
Full race results can be found here.
