|
ELF
Renault Clio Cup championship leader Ben Winrow (Earls Barton) will start rounds
11 and 12 from pole position after a brilliant display in qualifying on
Saturday, 7thth and 11th Michelin pole positions of the
season. June. With the saloon-car series making its annual
appearance in support of the UK round of World Series by Renault, hosted by
Silverstone Grand Prix circuit for the first time, the Team Pyro ace scored his
10
Winrow
led at the halfway stage of the 30-minute session before posting a time of 2min
08.716s (89.33mph). He then went even quicker with a lap of 2min 08.646s
(89.38mph) to place him almost half a second clear of his rivals at the renowned
3.194-mile circuit.
His
closest challenger is 2005 Clio Cup champion Jonathan Adam (Fife), making a
one-off appearance for Total Control Racing, who is second on the grid for both
races ahead of team-mate Alex MacDowall (Carlise) each time. JHR Developments’
Paul Rivett (Banstead) and Full Speed Racing’s Phil Glew (Alford) share fourth
and fifth places, with Rivett ahead for round 11 and Glew taking the grid-slot
for round 12.
Each
driver’s fastest time sets the grid for round 11 and their second-fastest time
determines the grid for round 12. The lower end of the top-10 saw more variation
between the two grids with the round 11 line-up seeing JHR’s Richard Cannon
(Chesterfield), TCR pair Mike Robinson (Effingham) and Jonathan Ridley-Holloway
(Barnstaple), APO Sport’s Alex Osborne (Northampton) and Y4HR Miracle Drywash
Stancombe Vehicle Engineering’s Niki Lanik (Ashurst Wood) completing the top
10.
For
round 12, Robinson moves up to the outside of the third row ahead of Osborne and
Lanik on row four. On row five are two drivers who ran at the front in the first
half of the session, EPS UK with Robertshaw Racing’s Robert Gaffney (Waltham
Abbey) and Coastal Racing’s Carl Bradley
(Morecambe).
Commenting
on his superb performance, Ben Winrow said: “We tried a few things in testing
that didn’t quite work but made changes today to settle the car down and it’s
paid off. You have to be quick into the corners and then carry the momentum
through so it’s a tricky circuit. It’s my home track so I have a lot of guests
here tomorrow and it will be nice to tell them I’m on pole for both
races!”
Round 11
is scheduled to start at 09.50 on Sunday, 8th June with round 12 at
15.45. A crowd of 40,000 was in attendance
for Saturday’s action with more expected on Sunday.
|
