Racing a replacement Clio following damage due to a roll at Brands Hatch, MRM Racing driver Brett Lidsey had one of his best weekends in the Renault UK Clio Cup at Donington Park recording his best ever qualifying position and best ever race finish.
In tricky qualifying conditions, Brett managed to wrangle his Clio into sixth place for race one and also on account of his second fastest time, got ninth for race two. Positions where he could make headway in the races.
With a fantastic start from sixth, Brett managed to gain a position at Redgate before attempting a move on Team Pyro man Jack McCarthy in fourth before slotting back behind in fifth position through the quick Craner Curves.
Through the Craners, championship leader Paul Rivett managed to spin off and extensively damage his WDE Motorsport Clio bringing out the safety car.
Despite some pressure at the restart, Brett managed to maintain his fifth position ahead of those snooping around him. He managed to control a two second gap between himself and Zak Fulk in sixth.
Crossing the line in fifth place, the twenty-six year old recorded his best ever finish in the Renault UK Clio Cup.
Race two started similarly. Gaining a position from ninth he set the fastest lap time on his second tour around the circuit. But, he was delayed by Jack Colburn crashing at Redgate dropping Brett down to tenth.
Tenth was where he ultimately finished. Not disheartened by the second race, Brett was pleased with his strong haul of points from Donington.
“To have been on my roof in the first race at Brands, to then come to Donington and finish the first race top five is fantastic – I’m well chuffed with that”, the 26 year old reflected.
“We went into the pre-race test not knowing where we’d be, I hadn’t raced at Donington since 2016, but it’s been a great weekend and we’ve shown we can compete in the front pack in this championship.
“In the first race I got off the line well, kept it clean, but at the re-start I had defend so it dropped us back from the pack and I stayed a lonely fifth.
“Race two was tougher, me and [Sam] Osborne had a coming together late on which dropped me onto the mud at the Old Hairpin, and it bent the steering. Even with that, though, we were still setting good lap times which is really positive.”
