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| Race Report |
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Michelin Clio Cup Series
Rockingham 11 & 12th April 2015
Rounds 1, 2 & 3
There was a promising start to the season for the team at Rockingham and marked another big step in the progression and growth of the team. As was the case last year Mark from MWT Automotive was taking care of the running of the car but this year he is joined by Dave from EDF Motorsport. This combined effort means we will see the car develop at a much faster rate than last year which is critical in a one marque, tightly controlled series such as Michelin Clio Cup. John has been working with reigning road series champion Anton Spires and they analysed each performance through the weekend and fed information back to the engineering team.
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| The team also made the most of the new race transporter and Sherwood Signs produced the boards so the team could form a hospitality area in the garage. Over the weekend thirty staff, sponsors and guests were catered for by the team including AlloyGator, Living Woods, Fisher Motor Factors, Lincolnshire Radiators & ACT Training. Alex & Mel from World On A Tripod attended and captured the fantastic photos included in this report. After the event John thanked the sponsors and said that he sees them “as part of our close knit, family run team.” adding “I couldn't do it without them.” |
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Friday test day showed John and the #33 Clio were on the pace with the only set back being starter motor failure. Luckily fellow Road Series racer Luke Pinder loaned the team his spare starter to be fitted by the combined forces of MWT & EDF on Friday evening.
With three rounds being contested over the weekend, Saturday's schedule was packed with two qualifying sessions in the morning and a race in the afternoon. The rain was falling in the first session which determined the grid for the first two rounds. John put the Clio P4 missing out on P3 by just under three hundredths of a second. The second qualifying session, to determine the grid for round three, was dry and after a slight set up change John qualified third. Although another set up change may have found more time the decision was made to keep the car as it was as the pace was good. Local Ginetta Junior driver Lewis Brown had loaned us his scales for the weekend which helped the team optimise the car's performance. Dave & Mark's calculations had paid off as after qualifying the scrutineers weighed the car and found it 1kg inside the series minimum weight limit.
Race one started promisingly but ended all too quickly. Heading three abreast into the second corner there was contact resulting in a bent inner tie rod, identical to the damage sustained at Croft at the end of last season. With the steering well out of alignment John wasn't able to continue and pulled into the pits on lap three. |
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| Sunday was approached as a fresh start. In round 2 John had a blistering getaway and was mirror to mirror with the pole sitter and previous day's race winner, Luke Pinder. As the cars rounded Rockingham's banked first corner Pinder had the inside line and took the lead. The second corner is where the cars leave Rockingham's wide Nascar circuit and drop onto the narrower infield. As the pack bunched up and the touring car style bumping and rubbing started John ran wide and lost places. He had some good mid pack battles throughout the race with last year's Championship runner up Nic Harrison and series newcomer and reigning K Tec Clio 182 Champion Matt Fincham. He eventually brought the car home P5.
In the second race wheel spin off the line put the #33 Clio to the back of the pack, leaving John with work to do to get his way back up the order. Some nicely executed over taking saw John breeze past Sarah Franklin who was driving Anton Spires' Championship winning car. In the closing stages of the race he was reducing the gap to forth place Harrison, who was in turn reeling in Matt Fincham. Series newcomer, Fincham, had a replacement engine fitted after the first qualifying session and again seemed to be dogged with mechanical problems as his Clio was sounding increasingly rough in the dying minutes of the race. Unfortunately for John there just was not enough laps left and he was running P5, just a second adrift of Harrison, as the chequered flag waved. |
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On the whole it was a successful opening weekend for the team. The car was on the pace and John was in the mix, fighting mid pack in both races on Sunday. The one technical failure suffered was unavoidable and easily rectified as was the damage sustained. We definitely had a smoother weekend than some of the other teams and drivers who were battling with reliability issues or just coming to terms with the bumper to bumper physical racing the series features
Reflecting on the weekend John said “I'm very proud of the whole team this weekend in the opening rounds of the Michelin Clio Cup Series. We made huge progress on & off track. We are starting to find some real pace now and learning valuable lessons every time I am in the car”
There is now a two month break before the series heads to the fastest circuit in the country, Thruxton, for rounds four and five. |
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