Ollie Pidgley says he is “more than satisfied” with the pace and potential he showed over the course of his Renault UK Clio Cup debut at Brands Hatch this past weekend.
Following a positive pre-season, Pidgley immediately settled into the top ten in free practice, but saw struggles in qualifying with tyre management limit him to only 16th and 13th on the grid for the two races.
Pidgley was confident of making progress in his MAC Tools-backed Clio though, but saw his chances hampered in the opening race as he lost ground in a frenetic first few laps. He recovered well though, setting the fifth fastest lap of the race en-route to 16th.
In the live-televised second encounter, Pidgley enjoyed a much more positive race as he gained a couple of places to finish in 11th and second in the Graduate Cup – ending the meeting third in the class standings and 14th overall.
“The weekend has been positive. My race pace was very strong throughout and it was qualifying that let me down,” said Pidgley.
“It just didn’t come together and that put me on the back foot for the races, but you live and learn and I’m obviously hoping to continue moving forwards in the next round at Donington Park.
“I’m closer to the pace than I expected and we have achieved more than I could have imagined, so I’m more than satisfied.”
