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Champion's Win Tally Hits Double Figures At Season Finale |
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Monday, 16 October 2006 |
Total Control Racing’s Tom Onslow-Cole (New Malden, Surrey) completed a lights-to-flag victory in the final round of the 2006 ELF Renault Clio Cup to sign off his title-winning year in style at Silverstone National circuit. The 19-year-old clinched his 10th win of the campaign by just 0.317s from Z Speed Racing’s Martin Byford (Colchester, Essex) with Mardi Gras Motorsport’s Stephen Colbert (Northampton) in third.
In typical fashion, the final Clio Cup race featuring Clio Renaultsport 182 racers was incident packed from the start as Boulevard Team Racing’s Paul Rivett (Banstead, Surrey), Mardi Gras’ Robert Lawson (Richmond, N Yorks) and TCR’s James Williams (Norwich) entered Copse corner three abreast on lap one. Rivett led the group in fifth place, just behind TCR’s Nick Adcock (Bromyard, Hereford) who lost two places on the opening tour to Byford and Colbert.
Adcock then lost a further place as two-time former Champion Rivett passed him for fourth place and as Adcock briefly slowed on the National Straight he saw Williams and PH Motorsport’s Philip House (Harrogate) relegate him to seventh at the end of lap three. Robertshaw Racing’s Alan Taylor (Whitley Bay) ran wide into the gravel trap at Brooklands but recovered to finish 11th, albeit some distance behind.
With Onslow-Cole unable to pull away from Byford, the top eight cars were covered by just 2.5s after four laps, as each driver used the slipstream of the car in front on the long straights at the Northamptonshire venue to maintain close contact. The man on the move was House who set two successive fastest laps before the Safety Car was deployed on lap six after a touch between JHR Racing’s Steve Wood (Ashleworth, Gloucs) and Boulevard/Formula Nuts’ James Clarkson (Milton Keynes) sent the former spinning into the pitwall and coming to rest on the start/finish straight.
Racing resumed after five laps behind the Safety Car with Adcock immediately seizing sixth place from his team-mate Williams. The 16-year-old looked to respond instantly but his overtaking manoeuvre saw him run wide allowing Lawson and Drive 4 Life/SVE’s Niki Lanik (Ashurst Wood, W Sussex) to pass. Williams also lost out to JHR Racing’s Michael Doyle (Gartocharn, West Dunbartonshire), who was driving a strong race having started from the pitlane, and Clarkson, in just his second-ever car race.
In the battle for podium places, Rivett passed Colbert for third place on lap 11 and immediately closed onto the rear bumper of Byford, gaining second place at Becketts on lap 15 of the extended 21-lap race. Just behind, House passed Colbert for fourth at the same corner but the Ulsterman regained the position around the outside at Brooklands.
Lap 17 saw Rivett make his first bid for the lead, challenging on the inside of Onslow-Cole at Brooklands but falling back and only just managing to hold off Byford at Luffield. Meanwhile, Clarkson, who was running in ninth, had a slight engine problem that saw him forced into retirement at Becketts. An unrelated incident resulted in Team Pyro’s Mel Healey retirement, the first DNF of the 26-year-old’s season.
The main drama was yet to come and on lap 19 the podium positions changed once more. Rivett ran wide into Becketts as a damaged front brake pipe disrupted his braking. The pump failed completely as the 28-year-old raced down the National Straight at almost 100mph. His only course of action was to take to the gravel trap in an effort to slow down but he skipped across the hazard and slid helplessly across the circuit at Brooklands. Amazingly, the leading four drivers all avoided contact, with Adcock just a few feet from what would have been a dangerous collision.
Onslow-Cole began the final lap with a lead of just 0.752s over Byford with Colbert in close attendance. But the TCR ace showed just why he is the Champion as he kept his cool and did enough to keep Byford at bay for the final 1.64-mile circuit. Although Byford closed the gap, the Champion held on for his 10th win of the season.
Commenting on his victory, Onslow-Cole said: “Two wins is a fantastic to end the season and really proves how
dominant we have been. It’s been a total team effort with Total Control
Racing and myself and I can’t thank them enough because I couldn’t have
had such a good season without them. I didn’t feel the pressure out
there today even though Martin was close at the end and did what I
needed to for the win.”
Second-placed Byford, who recorded his ninth successive podium having
joined the Championship at the midway stage, said: “Once again I showed
I have the pace to be at the front and the season has gone much better
than I could have imagined. I set a target of finishing in the top 10
overall so to be fifth is incredible. Tom handled the pressure really
well today and backed off when he needed to and was very clever to get
the win.”
For Colbert it is a fourth podium of the season and he added: “I had a
very good start but lacked straight line speed and that compromised me
at the end of the long straights here. It was very close with Paul and
Martin but a clean race as well. I knew I had clinched third overall
yesterday so there wasn’t much pressure today and I was able to enjoy
it.”
The chequered flag also signalled the end of seven years’ racing with
the Clio Renaultsport 182, which is replaced by the 2.0-litre 205bhp
New Clio Cup for 2007. To date, 65 deposits have been received for the
new car with the second payment instalment required by Wednesday, 1st
November.
Drivers’ Championship standings after Round 20 - provisional
| Pos. |
Driver |
Nationality |
Team |
Points |
| 1 |
Tom Onslow-Cole |
GBR |
Total Control Racing |
546 |
| 2 |
Paul Rivett |
GBR |
Boulevard Team Racing |
433 |
| 3 |
Stephen Colbert |
GBR |
Mardi Gras Motorsport |
371 |
| 4 |
Michael Doyle |
GBR |
JHR Racing Developments |
304 |
| 5 |
Mark Speller |
GBR |
Total Control Racing |
289 |
| 6 |
Nick Adcock |
GBR |
Total Control Racing |
282 |
| 7 |
Robert Lawson |
GBR |
Mardi Gras Motorsport |
276 |
| 8 |
Philip House |
GBR |
PH Motorsport with JHR |
262 |
| 9 |
James Williams |
GBR |
Total Control Racing |
247 |
| 10 |
Mark Speller |
GBR |
Total Control Racing |
242 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 13 December 2006 )
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