|
Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) won
his second successive race with victory in round three of the 2008 ELF Renault
Clio Cup at Rockingham International circuit on Sunday, 13thMichelin pole position and
set the NGK fastest lap on route to victory ahead of Mardi Gras
Motorsport’s Gavin Pyper (Fleckney) and JHR Developments’ Paul Rivett
(Banstead). April.
The Team Pyro racer made a great start from
The start of the race saw
Winrow edge clear of Pyper as the Scot defended his second position. JHR’s
Richard Cannon (Chesterfield) made a superb start to climb to fourth from
11th on the grid, while APO Sport’s Alex Osborne (Northampton) moved
from 17th to 11th. JHR’s Mark Hazell (Llanhennock) retired
after contact with Amery Motorsport’s Jonathan Shepherd (Sandbach), an incident
that saw Hazell penalised by the Clerk of the Course.
Action at Deene Hairpin on lap
two saw Coastal Racing’s Carl Bradley (Morecambe) pass P9 Raceshop/Range
Storage’s Lee Pattison (Liversedge) and the pair swapped places twice at Tarzan
later in the lap. At the rear of the field, Pyro’s Jeff Smith (Wellingborough)
ran wide at Gracelands, hitting the barrier with some force to bring out the
Safety Car and eradicate Winrow and Pyper’s already considerable advantage over
the rest of the field.
As the cars formed a train
behind the safety car, Y4HR Miracle Drywash Stancombe Vehicle Engineering’s Niki
Lanik (Ashurst Wood) was up from 27th on the grid to 18th,
while Total Control Racing’s Mike Robinson (Effingham) had the reverse situation
of falling from seventh on the grid to 19th.
At the restart, Winrow expertly
backed up the field enabling him to retain the lead ahead of Rivett and the two
of them managed to rebuild their advantage. Lanik continued to gain ground by
passing Valtra with FSR’s Peter Felix (Allestree) at Deene hairpin, before Felix
returned the favour on the following lap.
The battle for 10th
place saw EPS UK with Solutions Racing’s Robert Gaffney (Waltham Abbey), Mardi
Gras’ Árón Smith (Rathfarnham), APO Sport’s Alex Osborne (Northampton) and Amery
Motorsport’s David Shepherd (Sandbach) arrive at Deene hairpin together, with
Smith passing Gaffney and Shepherd losing out as he dropped to 17th
during the course of the lap.
The leading trio were now
evenly spaced, while Smith was able to break free of the chasing Osborne and
Gaffney and then pass JD Pierce with Robertshaw Racing’s Derek Pierce (West
Kilbride). On lap eight, David Shepherd dropped a further four places after
contact with Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford), with Lanik caught up in the
incident to also fall four places to 21st.
On lap 10, Carl Bradley finally
managed to pass Richard Cannon at Yentwood having been within a handful of
car-lengths for much of the race. Cannon, suffering with a steering problem
after tapping team-mate Rivett on the opening lap, soon came into range of
Double Six Racing’s Rob Boston (Doncaster) but was able to keep him at bay until
the final lap when the Double Six scholarship winner clinched fifth
place.
With four laps remaining, the
action throughout the field continued to thrill the thousands of spectators.
TCR’s Mike Robinson, having regained two places after a poor first lap,
out-braked himself into Deene hairpin allowing Felix and Lanik to pass. Lanik
then passed Felix for the third time in the race to finish in 16th.
On the last lap, Árón Smith passed TCR’s Jonathan Ridley-Holloway (Barnstaple)
for eighth place.
At the head of the field, Pyper
began to reel in Winrow’s lead by a few tenths of a second per lap, with Rivett
following in third, but ran out of time before he was able to apply real
pressure. Winrow’s final winning margin was 1.728s, with Rivett just over half a
second behind.
Commenting on his victory, Ben
Winrow said: “My start was pretty good and I could see Gavin drop away slightly
and that let me get a bit of a gap early on. Unfortunately the Safety Car took
that away from me but I was soon able to get back up to speed and the car felt
great, as it has all weekend.”
Second-placed Gavin Pyper said:
“I had to defend a bit at the start but nothing too dramatic. My pace was pretty
similar to Ben’s so it was difficult to gain any ground but it’s great to be on
the podium after the disappointment of not finishing the second race at Brands
Hatch.”
Third-placed Paul Rivett said:
“It was a slightly lonely race for the most part and although I did start to
catch the guys in front towards the end, unfortunately it’s not much good at the
end! It’s a third straight podium though and that’s a great way to start with
the championship in mind.”
2008 ELF Renault Clio Cup
provisional drivers’ standings – round 3
1 Ben Winrow
GBR Team Pyro 94
pts
2 Paul Rivett
GBR JHR Developments 85 pts
3 Phil Glew
GBR Full Speed Racing 54
pts
4 Árón Smith
IRL Mardi Gras Motorsport 52
pts
5 Gavin Pyper
GBR Mardi Gras Motorsport 42 pts
6 Derek Pierce
GBR JD Pierce with Robertshaw Racing 42 pts
|
