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| Race Report |
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Michelin Clio Cup Series
Thruxton 13 & 14th June 2015
Rounds 4 & 5
With limited testing time available the Michelin Clio Cup Series headed to Thruxton for a busy weekend of racing. Due to sharing the bill with the British Truck Race Association, Pick Up Truck Racing, Kumho BMW Championship, Super 2000 Enduro Series, Tricolour Trophy & Coupe Cup there was no Friday practise and no Saturday warm up. The advantage would lie with competitors with previous experience on this circuit and local boy, Jake Honour. The team did feel confident going into this event as the fast flowing circuit suits John's tidy driving style.
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| With the conditions overcast but warming up the cars headed out to qualify on Saturday morning. Series points leader Luke Pinder set the early pace whereas his team mate Jake Honour really seemed to be struggling on his home event. With a third of the session completed they took the decision to send both cars out together taking it in turns to tow each other round the circuit to maximise the slipstream effect. In the last five minutes of the session John put in three fantastic laps to claim his first career pole. He set the two quickest laps of the session with a 1.34.727 @ 89.5 mph average speed and 1.34.911 @ 89.3 mph to secure a P1 start in both races. |
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| The team and their invited guests could then enjoy a relaxed lunch in the PP Motorsport hospitality area ahead of the afternoon's race. The car had performed faultlessly all morning and clearly had good pace thanks to the hard work of Mark & DT of MWT Automotive and EDF Motorsport. Whilst they were keeping the car in top form reigning road series champion Anton Spires was fulfilling his role of driver coach. Here we see the team reviewing in car footage and de-briefing after qualifying, a vital process for the development of the car. |
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| The race began at 16:30 and the temperature had risen steadily over the course of the afternoon. As the lights went out Pinder got as a blistering start as did his team mate Honour. This left John in P3 attacking the back of Honour whilst all the time defending hard from the unpredictable Nic Harrison. It was a great cat and mouse battle all the way through, the photos only giving an impression of how tight it was throughout the race. At the checkered flag 0.3 seconds was the gap between Honour and John with Harrison just 0.2 off his rear bumper. |
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| Temperatures on Sunday were slightly cooler and fans poured into the circuit to witness three rounds of the BTRA as well as visit the large display of show trucks parked just outside the paddock. It was a long wait for the final Clio race of the weekend with the delayed start taking place at 15:30 after some stoppages during the previous truck race. As the trucks arrived in Parc Ferme the Clios left the holding area in front of packed grandstands and spectator banks. |
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| Again Pinder got the jump off the line and swapped places with John to take the lead. Running in second he again found himself coming under attack from Nic Harrison. A misjudged defence into a corner gave Harrison a gap to go through. As the majority of the circuit is flat out and there are only two real braking zones it's almost impossible to make up time. The black and white flag came out for the 99 car as Harrison repeatedly cut the chicane, the clerk of the course informing us after the race he was only one more track limit infringement away from a time penalty. |
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| John was now battling with Jake Honour with series newcomer Tyler Lidsey rapidly approaching the back of Honour after finding some late pace and putting in some blistering 1.33.7 lap times. It was looking like John was going to be in the third step of the podium for the second time that weekend until the last lap when Honour had a very late challenge through the chicane. Talking about the incident John said “I felt the impact but had no idea what had happened as he was in my blind spot” Honour narrowly avoided the tyre barrier once he had all four wheels back on the ground. This gifted Lidsey third place, John did well to recover to forth, Fincham also took the chance to gain a place to finish fifth with Honour coming home sixth ahead of Franklin who had her race ended just before completing lap 9 after being overtaken by the leaders of the race class. |
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Photo courtesy of www.ae-photography.co.uk
In the driver's standings John is still 7th however the series has a dropped round rule meaning each driver's lowest score is not counted at the end of the year. This means we can drop the DNF at Rockingham and would put John in joint 4th in the Road Series Driver's Standings.
Interviews & race footage from the weekend can be viewed by clicking this link.
The team is now looking ahead to the next two rounds at Croft taking place on 11th & 12th July. |
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