Former Renault UK Clio Cup front-runner James Colburn converted pole position into victory during the opening Michelin Clio Cup Series encounter at Anglesey.
As Colburn led the way, his Westbourne Motorsport team-mate James Dorlin emerged in front of his championship rival Brett Lidsey following a close-fought battle.
After encountering wet conditions in qualifying during the championship’s first ever visit to the Welsh circuit, the grid was greeted by a dry circuit for Sunday’s opening race.
Colburn kicked off the race in perfect style as he built a one second lead on the opening lap alone, an advantage that would peak at two seconds as he enjoyed a routine victory.
The battle for second wouldn’t be decided until the final lap of the race meanwhile, as Dorlin recovered from briefly slipping to fourth on lap two behind Luke Pinder.
Working his way past his adversary next time around, the championship leader would go on to tail his title rival for a number of laps before making a decisive move on the final tour.
With guest driver Colburn not eligible for championship points, that overtake would be even more crucial as Dorlin walked away with full points – though fastest lap for Lidsey lessened the blow.
Those two weren’t alone in the closing stages meanwhile with Sam Randon running closely with the title contenders, having got ahead of Pinder for fourth at mid-distance.
Pinder had to settle for fifth at the finish ahead of Ben Palmer, Tom Barley and Tyler Lidsey, while Ben Colburn bounced back from a dramatic roll in qualifying to complete the Race runners.
In the Road series, Nic Harrison led from lights-to-flag for a sixth class win of the campaign, while Jack Fabby slipped past Damian Hirst on lap two to secure second.
The class entry was reduced to three for the weekend’s races meanwhile following an engine failure for Sarah Franklin in qualifying ruled her out of the two encounters.
Full race results can be found here.
