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Niki Lanik (Ashurst Wood) secured his second ELF Renault Clio Winter Cup victory of the weekend to open a 14-point lead in the drivers’ standings at the midway point of the campaign. The Austrian started from pole position for the second time at Brands Hatch on Sunday, 5th November and there were few fireworks as he held a comfortable lead from lap one to wrap up victory. Ray MacDowall (Carlisle) held off a late charge from Martin Johnson (Alford, Lincs) as they completed the podium places.

Johnson, the most experienced racer in Clio Cup racing with more than 100 starts to his name, made a flying start to close onto the rear bumper of Alex Fergusson (Inverness) who was making just his second Clio Cup appearance. Meanwhile, Total Control Racing’s James Williams (Norwich) slotted in behind team-mate MacDowall in third place.

Lap two saw Boulevard Team Racing’s Johnson claim fourth place as IF Motorsport’s Fergusson made an error that cost him four seconds. At the head of the field Lanik, driving for Drive 4 Life with Stancombe Vehicle Engineering, had opened a 3.7s gap to MacDowall as the young Austrian relished his role as frontrunner.

As tyres warmed up and drivers found their rhythm, Johnson was the man on the move as he set successive fastest laps to reduce the deficit to Williams to just 0.4s at the midway stage of the 10-lap race. Johnson’s team-mate, and nephew, Joshua Brooks (Alford, Lincs) was sixth in his first-ever Clio Cup outing, reducing his own lap time in each of the first six laps. He also passed Fergusson who ran wide onto the grass at Surtees on lap three, rejoining at the rear of the field.

On lap six, Johnson closed on to the rear of Williams’ car as the pair entered Druids hairpin, but a slow exit allowed the 16-year-old to edge away on the run to Graham Hill Bend. But the reprieve lasted just one lap as the experienced Johnson moved up the inside at Druids on the following lap to seize third place.

Fergusson regained fifth place from Brooks on lap eight with a textbook pass up the inside at Druids hairpin, but that was the only change for position in the closing stages. Johnson did manage to erase 1.6s of MacDowall’s advantage and crossed the line less than two-tenths of a second behind. Williams was one second further adrift in fourth, while Fergusson held a comfortable five-second lead over Brooks.

Commenting on his second victory in two days, Lanik said: “It was fairly straightforward for me today because I made such a good start and was able to open an early lead. I know there are still a few places where I can find more speed and the team has been superb in helping me to go quicker. I had more time to test the car in dry conditions this weekend than I did in the summer series and that really paid off.”

Second-placed MacDowall said: “It was a very good race from my point of view and after the shunt yesterday I was just concentrating on getting a solid finish. I could have chased Niki but that would have been risky so I settled for second and felt I had Martin covered at the end. I like Croft circuit so I’m looking forward to the final two rounds.”

After a second successive third place, Johnson commented: “I knew if I made up enough ground in the early stages I’d have a chance of a podium so it was nice to get so close to James in the first two laps. I had to pick my moment to get past and then I was able to get close to Ray. Perhaps if there had been one more lap I might have got second but two podiums is a good start to the Championship.”

Rounds three and four, which mark the end of the Championship and the end of the Clio Renaultsport 182 as a one-make racer, take place at Croft, north Yorkshire on Saturday, 11th November. Qualifying will be held on the same day. 

Drivers’ Championship standings after Round 2 - provisional