Dan Zelos hopes his run of bad luck is firmly behind him after suffering another frustrating weekend in the Renault UK Clio Cup at Donington Park.
After seeing a top three qualifying performance during the Brands Hatch season opener go unfulfilled when incidents hampered his races, it proved to be a similar story at Donington.
The 17 year old struggled with an engine misfire throughout free practice and qualifying in Leicestershire, leaving him down in 20th and 19th on the grid for the two races.
It would go from bad to worse in the opening race however, when evasive action to avoid a car in front at the Old Hairpin ended with him rolling onto his roof in the gravel trap.
A fantastic job by the Ciceley Motorsport crew got him back on track later that day, but after fighting his way into the top fifteen, more mechanical gremlins caused him to retire.
“Donington was a hugely frustrating weekend. In the first race, I was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time and my lack of knowledge regarding slicks in cold conditions caught me out,” said Zelos.
“The Ciceley boys did an incredible job to fix my car and it was such a shame race two didn’t last longer, because I was really beginning to enjoy it and get stuck in, and with the pace we had, I felt a top ten finish was on the cards.
“There’s no hiding the fact that it’s been a difficult start to my Renault UK Clio Cup career. It was fantastic to be so high up the grid at Brands Hatch and racing with former champions, but by the same token, it probably unreasonably raised pressure and expectations in my first season.
“The UK Clio Cup is renowned as being one of the toughest motorsport series’ in the country and I have a big learning curve ahead of me, but as long as I make consistent progress, I’ll be on the right track.”
