Bradley Burns became a record breaker at Silverstone in the 2018 Renault UK Clio Cup as he became the youngest ever winner in the championship’s history. Not content with winning the first race from pole position, he did the same thing again in race two. Cementing himself as a future championship contender.
Events over the weekend also tightened up the current title race as four drivers will now head to the final round at Brands Hatch with a mathematical chance of winning the championship.
Race One
A new qualifying lap record by Burns has already set him up to be the man to beat at Silverstone, even when he was beaten off the line by Paul Rivett. Burns was unstoppable as he pursued his maiden victory.
Lap four was to be a title turning point as championship leader Max Coates was punted off into retirement at Becketts.
Rivett was having a yo-yo of a race as he dropped from first to fourth on lap six, before he made his way past Michael Epps and Dan Zelos again to gain second position.
Epps and Zelos were to then drop further down the order as James Dorlin gained third, Jack Young took fourth and DRM driver Daniel Rowbottom took fifth. Lee Pattison then compounded the former podium hopefuls misery by dropping them to seventh and eighth respectively.
Lap fourteen saw a huge accident for Jade Edwards between Copse and Becketts which brought out the Renault Megane safety car. With two laps to go and with the pressure back on the young shoulders of Burns in first. He kept his nerve to become the youngest ever Renault UK Clio Cup winner ahead of Rivett in second and Rowbottom in third.
Rowbottom’s drive was even more remarkable due to the fact he had started from sixteenth on the grid.
Credit: Renault UK Clio Cup
Race Two
Race two had a similar start to race one as pole sitting Burns was beaten off the line by a quicker Rivett.
However, Burns had an easier route past the veteran as he also brought title hopeful James Dorlin through too.
Burns would head to the chequered flag two seconds ahead of Dorlin in second and Rivett in third.
Elsewhere down the field, Coates finished fourth to keep him second in the championship, Pattison finished fifth and Jack Young scored his best finish to date in sixth.
However, this wasn’t to be the final results. Rivett’s third place gave him an eighteen point lead into the final round at Brands Hatch, but he was subsequently disqualified from the results and has lost the championship lead to Coates.
Coates would have inherited the third place left by the disqualified Rivett. However, he too also was given a penalty which kept him in fourth place.
WDE Motorsport who runs Rivett’s Clio have lodged a complaint and the case will be heard at a later date.
If things stay as they are, four drivers head to Brands Hatch with a chance of winning the overall title.
Coates, Rivett and Dorlin are just within seven points of each other with Max on 277, Paul on 271 and James on 270. The title battle will probably be between these three.
However, if they all trip up, forty-nine points behind Coates is Daniel Rowbottom who can still mathematically win the title with the fifty-six points available over the weekend. But, he’ll have his work cut out.
